Following in the Footsteps (Gabriel x Reader)
by SamTheMoose
Summary: You are just a model working for his company with your heart set on entering the world of music. Your father's death has left your family in shambles and continuing to live in Paris is a daily struggle. Just before all hope is lost, your employer manages to alleviate the situation you are in, but at what cost?
1. Chapter 1: A Worried Smile

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Thomas Astruc and Zag entertainment. This is merely a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction, nothing too fancy. Names and specific details left out so it can be taken as a nonspecific main character. In my case it is my own OC, etc. (She is Maria Chaffeur with green eyes and blonde hair if you want to imagine her as such) If you see any typos I overlooked, let me know and I will correct them. This is an M rated fic and is not intended for anyone that is under 18. Hope you guys enjoy ~

You came home to your Maman, tired and hungry from the long day of classes at the University. They were nothing too strenuous considering your profession, but they still took quite a bit out of you. She stood there in the kitchen, beaming at you as per usual, but there seemed to be a bit of darkness behind it. Not enough for it to stand out, but enough for you to notice after all these years.

In the small studio apartment in Paris, your Maman and Papa had lived for 30 years together. Your father had been a planner at a local designer company and your mother a wonderful chef. They had met under the most interesting circumstances. He had just managed to land a new, higher position at the Agreste company and was at a sort of after-party that your Maman was helping to cater at. They started talking and, one thing leading to another, they became a couple and wed a year later. You were born just another year after that.

You grew up, a natural beauty with shining hair and luminous eyes. You were the apple of your father's eye and his company had a great deal of interest in your appeal. One time at a take your daughter to work event when you were 18, the head of the company, Gabriel Agreste, managed to be there although he was not particularly interested in the events unfolding. A few of the girls, you included, joked around and tried on some of the outfits made available. Some closed-doors talking, no doubt influenced by your father's way with words, led to you landing your first job as a model.

It was incredible, having this new experience, although it wasn't your true calling as you also were the lead of your choir and had several awards in your belt from violin competitions. Music was your life, but being paid for modeling was just too good to just pass up. The gigs were intense, as there were several times that you missed a lot of school to travel, participate in photo shoots, and walk the runway. The company, mostly through direct demands from Gabriel himself, oversaw pretty much most of your time so you never really had a chance to ace your classes, get a boyfriend, or make any friends. It was lonely, but at least you had your Maman and Papa when you were home. Well, at least for three more years.

21 years old, somewhat famously known as a model, a girl with a voice of beauty and a violin of magic... lost her father. In a freak accident that no one was too sure how it unfolded, your Papa swerved while driving and went over a bridge. The car was completely demolished and he died instantly at the scene. Your family was in complete shock for several weeks; how could this have happened to him?

Almost a year had passed and the pain still resonated. Even though he was gone, you managed to keep your job at the Agreste company although every time you were at work, you were reminded painfully of your Papa. This put a hit on your family as neither you or your Maman made enough for the apartment you lived in. Years before you had decided to go to a University to continue your education in music, but this now put a harsh financial burden on the two of you. For a while now you had considered dropping out, but with a certain stubbornness you hung on to your dreams of a future filled with recitals, performances, and stage-plays.

You were still looking at your Maman when you closed the door behind you, knowing all too well what the pain was behind her smile. However, you still needed to ask. "What is it, Maman? Has something new happened?"

Somehow it was possible for more of the light to go out in her eyes and she turned back to the oven where dinner was still cooking. "We... we got a foreclosure notice today. I don't know what we are going to do... where we are going to go. I've been looking at the cheaper apartments here, it's so hard to find anything that is available." She let out a weak laugh. "If only this was something that those Ladybug and Chat Noir heroes could save us from."

You felt weak in the knees. Foreclosure? This really was bad. You dropped your head and shuffled over to where your room was at the end of the hallway. There really wasn't anything you could say to lighten the situation, this was truly the end of the line. You threw your bags down on your bed and flopped onto the mattress, picking up the picture of your family from years before. "Oh Papa, why aren't you here when we need you the most?" Tears stung the corners of your eyes and you pressed the picture to your chest. This was it, you had to drop out of the University and pick up full time work to help your Maman.

A half hour passed and you came back out in some silk pajamas and headed over to the kitchen were the food was spread out over the table. As per usual she made things that were way too extravagant for just the two of you. A roast chicken with a side of buttered pecans and chef's salad. The smell of everything made your mouth water and you sat without complaint to eat. The two of you ate in silence for quite a while before you spoke up. "So I was thinking, I would finally stop going to school and get full time work to help you out."

Her response was as expected. "What?! No! No daughter of mine is going to quit school!" She dropped her fork and crossed her arms in defiance. "We will find that cheap apartment and I will find better work. You needn't worry about that. We will even get you some loans if we must."

You just smiled at your mom's resistance. "I don't need to be watched anymore, Maman. I'm 22 years old now and can make my own decisions. I don't need music to sustain me. We need money to do that. I'm fine with finding full time work at the company. They've been hounding me to do more touring with them anyway. With school out of the way I could work more with them and earn more." You chortled. "Gabriel is a nightmare to work with, but at least it is work."

She looked taken aback at your words, but she smiled, tears in her eyes. "Oh, you've always been so stubborn." She leaned over and grabbed you into a small hug, holding you close. "I can't influence your decisions, but I hope you reconsider."

The next morning, you rolled out of bed early and got everything you needed together. This would be your last day of classes; you were going to resign from the school that day first thing. The thought of it pained you so, but helping your Maman out was the top priority.

An unfortunate series of traffic, rude drivers, and an odd gathering of pigeons around town made getting to school difficult, and you ended up being late to your first class. No time in getting withdrawn. You were pouting over your desk when an odd character entered the classroom. She was fairly tall, dressed in a dark suit, and had long dark hair bundled into a bun with a red streak across the bangs. You were pretty sure you had seen her before, but couldn't quite recall. Suddenly the teacher was calling your name. "_! This Ms. Natalie wants to have a word with you in the hall."

Oh! Natalie! Gabriel Agreste's assistant! You almost felt ashamed for forgetting her, but you rose and followed her out of the room. She immediately turned and thrusted a document into your hands. "I was instructed to hand this to you. Mr. Agreste has a certain proposition for you and your mother, as he became aware last night of the situation that befell you both."

The look on your face was utter confusion and a slight grimace. Natalie saw and a small smile came to her lips. "Believe it or not he cares about his employees. You are a valuable asset to the company and he wants you to be in top condition to continue your work." She put a hand gently on your shoulder. "Your father's loss was a shock and a pain to us all. If this is the only way he can help, he will." With that she turned and was gone as abruptly as she had come.

You swallowed nervously and opened the document handed to you. Upon it was a rather formal letter talking about some sort of live-in experience and scholarship but the words started swimming across your vision and you couldn't make sense of them. What? Gabriel Agreste wrote this? Why would he ever want to help you out? Well... you wouldn't withdraw from the University... for now. You went back to class and continued the rest of the day fairly normally, not having the stomach to look at the document again.

Getting home was a lot easier than going to school that morning, and you opened the front door with a sigh, not expecting to get knocked off your feet by your Maman running up and grasping you in a tight hug, screaming. You managed to stand both of you up, panicked but feeling a bit of a laugh bubbling up. Your Maman had tears streaming down her face but her mouth was in a permanent smile and she couldn't seem to speak. You sat her down at the table and shoved your bags into a corner of the kitchen to make her some tea. She sipped it excitedly and shoved a document, similar to the one you had received earlier, across the table top towards you. Curious, and feeling a bit better from before, you opened the letter and read over the lines.

She finally spoke. "I can't believe this! I've been offered a job over at the Agreste Manoir! They recently lost their cook and are looking to hire on a full time chef for their family. I'd make over twice as much at my current job!" She bounced up and down in her chair a little again before continuing. "Can you believe this? He is helping us out of this situation! You can continue school!"

You took out the letter you received and set it down on the table next to hers. "I didn't know that he was offering you a job... but a full time chef? That means..."

She gave you a sad smile, finally having settled down, and rested her hand on yours. "I know, we will still have to sell this place and move, but at least it won't be some run-down place on the edge of Paris. Even the servants' quarters at this place can't be that bad! Free room and board, plentiful pay..." she looked at your letter, "and a scholarship! Oh, your Papa sure knew how to work for the best people!"

Something seemed so odd about this, because every time you had ever seen Gabriel, he was stern and downright terrifying. He yelled at almost everything and couldn't stand for the smallest mistakes. Oddly enough he rarely ever had anyone fired though. Maybe you were just misjudging him after all this time? You shrugged and smiled, beaming now at your giddy mother. Finally you could pursue your dreams again in comfort... or so you thought.


	2. Chapter 2: Iron Gates

The large iron gates loomed before the two of you, casting shadows like those of prison bars across your faces. Your Maman was grinning eagerly at the scary black eye that was extended from the wall face at you. Natalie's voice had rung out, declaring that the two of you could enter. You shouldered the bag closer to you and grasped the handle of your main suitcase, so much that your knuckles gleamed white. The rest of your family's things would arrive in boxes later on as you only had a couple of days to pack and move out of the apartment.

With a clang, the doors sung open slowly and a long stone path led you to a flight of stairs. The two of you stepped through and with a more abrupt slam, the gate was closed. There was no going back now. Taking a deep breath, you continued behind your mother and walked up the stairs to a stately door that was flung open. Natalie spoke from within, "Come on in. We were expecting you already."

Maman laughed and walked right in; struggling to catch your breath, you followed in step as Natalie closed the doors behind you. You heard heavier footsteps echoing from in front so you looked up to see none other than Gabriel Agreste himself walking down a massive staircase that took up most of the entrance hall. He had a bit of a smirk on his face as he addressed the two of you. "Welcome to this humble house. This was the least of what I could do to remedy your situation." He looked at Maman. "Your husband and daughter have been more than excellent employees of mine. I'd hate to lose all of that."

Your Maman was beaming but you knew what those words really meant. His company would take a hit if one of his main models suddenly suffered in performance or vanished completely. This was all for his own gain, although you were surprised that he wasn't just trying to find someone to replace you. He finally reached the bottom of the stairs and was heading over to you two when Natalie stepped in front of them and spoke up. "I'll take them down to their rooms, sir. So they can..."

"Wait just a moment Natalie. Our model employee is not going to be staying in the lower quarters. Instead she will take the spare bedroom." Gabriel had cut her off rather strictly and Natalie blinked in confusion before merely nodding.

This made you very uncomfortable however, you didn't want to leave the side of your Maman, especially in this strange new place. "Um... thanks so much Mr. Agreste but... I don't know if I should..."

His face whipped towards you and you instantly regretted talking. Those clear blue eyes could freeze anyone in their tracks and inspire fear in the strongest of them. "I mustn't have to insist now. It's not just for you, it is for my own convenience as well. With you living in the same hall as Adrien, I can address both of you much easier when it comes to my work. Now..." He turned around and glanced over his shoulder. "I will lead you to the room."

Your Maman gave you a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying after Natalie while you sighed and picked up your bags to follow Gabriel upstairs. You had honestly forgotten about his son, Adrien Agreste. You saw him around a bit at work, but didn't interact with him much since the two of you were in different departments. At least the two of you had something to talk about. You grimace to yourself.

He led you to the right down the hallway and directly to the second to last door on the left. The place was so massive, you were going to have to do something so you could remember this one was in fact your room and not one of the others that were spotted along the entire sprawling hall. He opened the door to a room that was pretty much the size of your former apartment. Your jaw dropped in disbelief and you stepped past him to look around at everything. Windows lined the far wall and a small gallery overlooked the room, the only way to access it a ladder. There was a full bathroom in the left wall and the only furniture to adorn the place was a stripped bed towards the back, a couch in front of a TV set, and bookshelves along some of the walls.

Closing your jaw and swallowing your shock, you set your bags down on the floor by the bed and turned back to Gabriel, not sure what he was making of your expression. You finally manage to form a smile and nod at him. "Thank you so much Mr. Agreste. This is... so much more than I ever could have needed."

He smirked back at you and began to close the door. "Once Natalie has finished showing your mother around, she will come to you and do the same. Don't stay up too late tonight as tomorrow morning I will need to have a word with you about a new design I've been working on. Natalie will give you the time and the room." With that he closed the door and you took the moment to fully absorb the new room that was to be your home. So impressive. It was a shame you had no one to share it with.

Already feeling the pangs of missing your Maman, you started to pull things out of your bags to make this place truly yours. Blankets, clothes, small figurines, more books... you piled everything that you could pack within those couple of bags upon the bare mattress. Everything else of yours would be arriving within the next day in a bunch of boxes.

You had managed to put all of your essentials into the bathroom and had located the closet when you heard a small tapping at the door. That must be Natalie. You went over and pulled on the handle to reveal that your guess had been correct. Without showing any emotion she showed you around the house bypassing most of the rooms much to your disgruntlement. You at least knew where the dining room and Mr. Agreste's office were, which you guessed was all you really needed to know. Pausing in front of his door, she handed you a small note that had a time printed on it; 9:00 a.m. After you pocketed it carefully, she led you down to the live-in employees area and the kitchen where your Maman was hurriedly rushing about and putting her special cooking equipment into the already overstocked cupboards.

She noticed you and stopped what she was doing to run over and grip you in a hug, spinning you about. "We are living like royalty now! I still can't believe this is happening!"

She put you down and went back to her things and you laughed. "Neither can I, Maman." You decided to not tell her about the increased work-load you were about to have with Gabriel's demanding schedule. "You should see my room later, it's like triple the size of this kitchen."

Your Maman giggled. "Oh I can't believe that. Why would a bedroom need to be that huge?"

"I don't know, but it's definitely roomy. I can have like three parties going on in there at once." You were obviously joking but she scolded you.

"Don't abuse his hospitality now..."

You laughed and kissed her on the forehead. "I was kidding, I don't have anyone to come over anyways."

She shrugged and twirled a whisk in her fingers. "Can't be too careful. Who knows, you might become friends with that Adrien fella." Before you could say anything she pointed down a hallway to the side. "My room is the third on the right if you ever need to come down and talk to me. Ahh!" She had you in a hug again. "It's like you're grown up and moving out!"

Smiling you broke away and turned to head out. "I'm just a couple stories above you Maman. I'm sure Natalie showed you were my room was. I'm never far." Saying your farewells you noticed that Natalie had in fact disappeared, leaving you to find your way back to your room on your own. With a tired sigh you noticed that it was nearing the late afternoon, your Maman would be starting the dinner here soon enough.

Retracing your steps, you managed to find your way back to your room. So you wouldn't forget, you found some sticky notes and tape and fashioned a little pastel blue star which you then attached to the center of the outside of your door. Now you would never lose your room. You started to put away your things as much as you could before you realized that dinner should be ready downstairs.

Feeling a bit nervous, you found your way to the main hall and stood in front of the large picture of Gabriel and Adrien in their mourning clothes. You looked around but couldn't remember which way was to the dining room. The amazing smells of your Maman's cooking wafted through the air, but it wasn't enough to find your way. Before taking another step, one of the large double doors opened suddenly and you jerked your head toward the noise, clearly startled. A boy about a foot smaller than you stepped through them sporting a mane of soft yellow hair and lively green eyes. He was the boy in the picture behind you, Adrien.

He looked up and saw you standing there and he stopped in his tracks, tilting his head in clear confusion while the door softly closed behind him. You both blinked at one another before he managed to speak up. "Who... who are you?"

You cocked your head and swallowed. He didn't know? Wouldn't have Gabriel told him? "I... I'm sorry. You probably don't remember me at all, but I'm the head model of the women's department. We kinda work together for your father."

A realization seemed to hit him and he began walking towards you. "Oh, no I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have remembered." He laughed as he reached you at the top of the stairs and held his hand out. "Now we can formerly meet. I'm Adrien Agreste."

Smiling you took his hand and gave it a shake. He managed to talk again though before you had the chance to say anything. "What brings you here though?"

Your smile faded and you wrapped the hand you just shook with his around your other arm. Looking away you told him about the circumstances your family fell into after your father died and what Gabriel had offered you in order to get back on your feet. Shyly looking up, he had an expression of disbelief on his face. "Wow, I'm so sorry... I'm glad things are working out now though but..." He scratched his head. "My dad... he wouldn't normally do anything like this. He's so stubborn and he doesn't really care about anyone else."

You shrugged and then decided to get the two of you on your way. "So um... I know it is dinner time, but I can't seem to find my way back to the dining room."

Adrien blinked and smiled, deciding to just not think about his confusing father anymore. "Oh yeah sure, of course, just follow me."

He led you down a short hall into an open room that had a long table in the center adorned with many chairs. It seemed so odd considering the lack of residents in the house. You took a quick mental note of the directions, determined to commit them to memory so you didn't have to resort to help again or get hopelessly lost in the house. Surely you'd get the hang of it sooner or later. He sat on the far end of the table and you sat opposite him, leaving the chair on the end open. The food had already been set and your mother nowhere to be seen.

"You said your mother is the new chef? She's probably taking something to my father right now..." He had already started grabbing some food and had undoubtedly noticed you looking around expectantly. "He always eats by himself, he never joins me here. You might as well eat."

You smiled nervously and began helping yourself. He complimented your mother's cooking, digging in with gusto. Shining with some pride you finished your meal, neatly stacking the used dishes at the end to make it easier for Maman. Adrien was already heading off to his room, giving you a wave goodbye. Not too sure what else to do, you headed back to your own room as well to continue unpacking.

Turning on the lights, you were happily surprised there wasn't a ton of glare from the window. Carefully, you set up your violin and sheet music in a corner of the room close to the TV and then moved to make the bed so you could actually sleep that night. There wasn't much left to put up and so you finished unpacking within an hour. You flopped onto the bed with your pajamas on and favorite book in hand, turning on a lamp atop the end table for better light. Exhaustion slowly settled over you and without really paying attention, you fell asleep with your face on the pages.


	3. Chapter 3: The Right Thing

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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a05a1eb8ebe3dc8c2b1e2deadf328e2a"Feeling foolish you took the clasp carefully with both hands and tested its weight between your fingers. Surprisingly it wasn't as heavy as you predicted it to be and you smirked, having an idea. Feeling around the back of your head, you managed to twirl your pulled back hair around into a flattering arrangement with which to attach it. It clicked down easily enough and you almost couldn't tell it was back there; so light and without any uncomfortable pull./p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9a401f85f6c808eda0207f8fec49be49"You took another step back, still fixated on the new creature in the room. It seemed to suddenly realize something and faced away from you towards Gabriel, raising its tail feathers into a fan and crouching down in mid-air, hissing like a cat. Mr. Agreste laughed and finally spoke, "Oh calm down, you already know the situation you are in, no need to be so aggressive. You have a new owner now, so... go on."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="90f7ca483fed6078c1e7a65dbcdaab4c"The little peacock flinched and gave a little whimper, turning back towards you. You felt really bad for it albeit a little bit scared from your inability to grasp the situation at hand. It raised its head to look at you directly and began to talk in a cute, high-pitched voice, "There is no need to be afraid of me. You own my miraculous, the peacock brooch. I am your Kwami... and my name is Duusu. With the clasp and myself, you have the power to become a superhero."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e65d67e45a141d1d124b15af5e82c537"You were starting to feel faint trying to take all this in. A Kwami? Superhero? Was this somehow related to the heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir that had materialized out of nothingness when terror struck the city? Their powers were superhuman... magical. You looked over at Gabriel who had a sly smile on his face after noticing you searching for more of an explanation. His hand raised up and he grabbed his tie, wrenching it to the side. Duusu gasped in fright and landed on your shoulder, hisses emitting from her little body. Upon Gabriel's shirt was a pin resembling that of a butterfly, also sporting a central jewel, but its color more muted. From the edge of his jacket came a blur, a dull pinkish-purple shape that stopped by his head and looked over at you with great sadness. This was another Kwami, one that had four wings like that of a butterfly. So that meant Gabriel had one too, but you were pretty sure you hadn't seen any other heroes wandering the streets of Paris, unless.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9be43461ee796ed8bda5196a05d7eff7""You... you're Hawk Moth?" You couldn't believe you had just blurted out that accusation at your own boss, but so much was happening that you weren't thinking quite straight. This couldn't be right, but he started laughing. A deep menacing laugh./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ffaf347e9420e3e3e655e224c4be7b93""Nooroo, dark wings rise!" he blurted out and raised his arms above his head. There came a rumbling from the walls and pure white butterflies came streaming from the vents and into the room, surrounding Gabriel. You fell back onto your rear in fright and you watched Nooroo transform into light and race toward Gabriel's chest. He yelled and threw his arms out, the butterflies disassociating and leaving back towards where they had come./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b4431867d121aa7a54c19ab123d7b5a8"There he stood, the terror that was devastating Paris. The man that Ladybug and Chat Noir were desperate to find. Sporting the silver mask, dark suit, and menacing cane; he chuckled and walked right towards you. You gasped and began scooting backwards across the tile, Duusu still clinging to your shoulder. However, he managed to stop right in front of you and jam his cane under your jaw, forcing your head back to look at him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4beaf392338257e7e2b5e5c98b20b9dc""You thought all of this was going to be just out of the goodness of my heart? Have I ever really been so generous?" He knelt down and grabbed the sides of your chin roughly between his gloved fingers, pressing down enough that you gasped out in a bit of pain. Duusu flew forward and started biting at his glove, but that accomplished nothing. "You are so easy to control... and especially in the situation you're in."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="41f91bc59697072463486949f9ab0d57"He laughed again. "Poor widowed mother struggling to get by in the grand city of Paris and keep her daughter in school. I can tell what you are thinking; Ladybug and Chat Noir must be told who he is! He must be stopped!" Hawk Moth released your chin roughly and stood back up, Duusu rushing back to you in a fright. "All I can tell you is, for the well being of your Maman, she would fare much better if you kept your mouth shut and did what I say. Accidents can be... so tragic."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7ecf0eaa1b30a856fd74e87b932736d3"You gasped and swallowed with nervousness. Blackmailing you by threatening your mother? How could he stoop to something so cruel? You grabbed hold of one of the edges of the table and got to your feet uncertainly, staring at the floor which was one huge blur before you. Of course life couldn't be so easy. Everything had to come at a cost. You shook your head and looked up at him. Hawk Moth had his cane resting across his shoulders and he was looking at you, impatiently./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4c3f490fad85f38fb2362dc858853a35""I... understand." The words were bitter in your mouth. "What do you want me to do?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c6cc4020eab7dc4f9704930be3237850""That's better. Good girl." His smirk horrified you. "You will transform and help me with my endeavors to get Ladybug's and Chat Noir's miraculouses. More specifically, you will go out and help those I have akumatized." He dropped his cane from his shoulders and tossed over a slip of paper that you struggled to catch. Upon it was a phone number. "Do not title this number but remember it. This is where I will message you from when you're needed. No matter what situation you are in, you will find a way out of it to help me, or there will be consequences. Understand?" You nodded meekly. "Yes now, transform."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ecf76d2e56001cf6de9d9d14304731e7"You were absolutely terrified, but the thought of your mother being in any sort of danger motivated you to a point that you didn't think possible. You turned toward Duusu on you shoulder and stammered, "H-how do I...?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a38722cbf27a6e99f5f3431d6e76d068"She nodded and flew into your vision again. "Don't be afraid. I will give you special powers that you just need to learn how to control. Now to transform, the words you need to say are 'fan out'. You can say it however you choose, but those two words need to be said together. Now you also have one special power that, if used, will cause you to transform back within a matter of a few minutes. For that it allows you to create a massive wind with your fan. This power is used by saying 'wind storm', so be careful. Your fan can help you jump and glide long distances. The rest is through your own enhanced abilities that I'm sure you can grasp." She took a deep breath of air and let it out. "There, that should do it!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6b3bef5e3ebb80761cdb4e82ae59deb3"You smiled back at her, realizing that you both were just unfortunate souls stuck in this situation. You hoped, one day, you could get the two of you, along with your Maman, out of this. Sighing you closed your eyes. "Alright then Duusu, it's time to fan out!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="33ba57e2293bb3d6ab87739844828b79"She turned into a flash of blue light and flew back into the make-shift hair-clasp. Almost feeling like this was the most natural thing in the world, you spun around and landed in a pose as a cool touch ran over the length of your body, replacing your clothing. Looking over into a mirror, you noticed that you were in a spandex jumpsuit that glimmered green, blue, and purple. From your lower back and hanging all the way to around your feet was a detachable peacock tail that was your fan consisting of numerous durable feathers. A mask was attached to your face merely by contact that matched the color of the suit and it had five feathers on each side flowing back over your ears and past your head. The only problem was how the suit constricted your body. Although it was comfortable, it also awkwardly showed to the world all your supple curves. You looked sleek, graceful... and beautiful./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7e28592e653f10f7bd961bdd95e23126"A hand on your shoulder caused you to start and leap away, grabbing for the fan on instinct and landing in a defensive stance with the weapon raised above your head. Hawk Moth chuckled and gave a little clap. "Good, very good. I can see that you will be a natural at this." He turned back towards the desk and walked away from you. "I expect for you to practice, I can only take so many mistakes you know. I want your best effort, or you know what will happen."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0e83ae22e4f18fb38c1aa2f323734299"You lowered the fan and growled at him, feeling a sort of confidence inside of you that you hadn't felt before. "I will do what you ask of me to the best of my ability, but it is you who must promise that you will not hurt my Maman as long as I serve you."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3ce1aad65c594dc81a13966ced776c5e"He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, his mouth a little agape in surprise. However, he merely smirked and nodded. "Very well, you have my word. Now go practice... you never know when I might need you next." Without transforming back, he went to stand in front of one of the windows to brood. Feeling eager to finally leave his presence, you headed towards the other window and found it to open outwards with ease. You leaped from the sill and spun the fan around your head which caused you to fly forwards with a great force./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="208feb3a2c245859be8215ba07329366"The strength of the magical weapon startled you, and you almost went slamming into the wall of the estate. Reacting with swiftness, you reversed the motion, merely driving you into an arborvitae. Coughing, you spat a few leaves out of your mouth. Great. Gabriel had probably seen all of that./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9a4755aecd14382f4d0c69e36e7d0892"Ignoring the thought, you stabilized yourself and took off again, leaping high into the air while enjoying the sight of your costume glittering in the late morning light. You landed on a nearby rooftop and looked out over Paris. The Eiffel Tower standing tall above you. The mayor's hotel with all its glamour almost mocking everyone else. You scoffed and lifted your fan, twirling it and fluttering it with newfound skill as you took off towards the tower. Your frustration at your situation seemed to slip away as you climbed up the steel beams, refreshing wind hitting your face and racing through your hair./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e346ff483ec823d9c8444f4961209fca"Half-way up the tower you paused, pulling the large fan in front of you and looking at it with determination. Special power huh? Up here would be the optimal spot, away from the people that you could hurt. You drew the fan into a double slashing motion and screamed out, "Wind storm!" Hurricane-force winds came from the fan and you planted your feet despite the power seeming to not have any effect on you. You could see the air move in powerful waves in front of you. They were heading towards a nearby house and you grimaced, cursing yourself for not aiming better. However they seemed to die down before reaching the area, merely knocking over a flower pot on the balcony./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9fdb9705d596ac74ae4a17b3d6303fe7"With a sigh of relief, you heard a beeping coming from the brooch in your hair. That was right! Upon using that power, Duusu said you only had minutes before turning back! You leaped down and guided yourself back to the Agreste household, managing to land without hurting yourself in the rear area of the manor. Hiding behind the same arborvitae you crashed into, a flash of light ran along the length of your body and your normal clothes returned to you. Duusu came cascading out of the brooch and into your cupped hands./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9dd784350f2afe5396b81488f55d0ce9"She giggled and grinned up at you, blinking. "That was amazing! Gabriel is a total meanie, but he was right. You are a natural!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1e746102da2d32cd6e318193adb9cd35"You flushed bright red and looked down, starting to head around to the front of the house to head back inside. "Oh I wasn't that good. I just wanted to get a feel for it is all... so I don't screw up." You sighed and the thoughts of everything that was at stake came rushing back to you. You felt nauseous and a bit dizzy from the stress. Oh god Maman. She was so blissfully unaware of the danger she was in, and she would have to remain that way./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a410ab0a36387ac6b8519641134347f0"Duusu laid back in your hands and whimpered. "I'm so sorry this is all happening to you. I was worried at first that you were willingly helping him, but I should have known better from your shock. I will help keep your Maman safe as much as I can, but Gabriel's influence is usually just too much." She groaned. "I need some berries..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5021daef14d9dab1ea48c7bf2afffc3f"You shook your head and continued to walk to the door. "Berries?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="24b3cbb60e0d5cd17f3aaf380b8fb7ac"The Kwami laughed again. "Right! I forgot to tell you, a Kwami needs to eat whenever their special power is used, to keep their strength up. The food I eat is berries, any will really do. Not only do I provide the costume and powers, I also give you the ability and a bit of the skill." She shrugged. "That was why you had that sudden understanding, mostly, of what to do."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9366b5a35b016764c379214886291508"Nodding you figured that made sense. There was no way you could have just felt that understanding otherwise, or even that brazenness. You were a completely different woman inside of that suit. "Right, I hear you loud and clear. I gotta stop by my bedroom real quick though, then I'll take you to the kitchen. Here, it might be better for you to hide somewhere other than my hands." Duusu had her own idea and flew into the thick waves of your hair by the brooch to curl up, comfortable and completely hidden. Chuckling you finally were ascending the front steps, your heels making an uncomfortable amount of noise. Fortunately the front door was open and so you went inside, slipping by Natalie./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8342d58be497786112db716e6a2181eb"You entered your room and saw a bowl filled with strawberries had been set up on a small table in front of the TV. Gabriel must have had your mother send some up to the room. A little disgusted, you sat on the couch and grabbed one from the bowl, holding it up to Duusu. She snatched it away frantically and fell down onto the couch, chewing messily. You smiled, feeling better watching the little peacock, and so you grabbed a strawberry too and bit into it. They were your favorite./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="de60d5f6ad3a5b715199b16bed6c91f6""What are you going to call yourself?" Duusu was looking up at you questioningly between bites. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6c49ac009292922262b7c2b040de27eb""Call myself?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2e6c08cc74e539b4cbc870025978cdd3""Yeah! Like your superhero name? You get to choose that part."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0071c9b49457524f82bb578a0d632c8e"Duusu went back to her munching and you twirled the stem around between your fingers, thinking. So Ladybug and Chat Noir had to go through this too and just pick out their own names? Hmm. Peacock seemed too simple. An idea sparked your mind, still simplistic, but you had always loved the adorable little word. "Le Plume."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5a10db2d7a96641772dda9d3bd4755d7"The Kwami stopped again and sat up, nodding at you. "I like it! I think it suits you."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e51fd96ca0df4163253b82d948c00703"You picked up another of the strawberries and headed over to your violin, sticking the juicy berry in your mouth before starting to bow out Requiem Mass by Mozart to vent your feelings. Duusu watched you in fascination and little did you know that just down the hall, Gabriel stopped in his tracks and looked towards your room upon hearing the mournful tune. With a sad smile he continued on, adamant that he was still doing the right thing. /p 


	4. Chapter 4: Baggage

Looking over at the clock, you realized that you had been playing the violin for nearly 2 hours. Setting down the bow and resting the instrument back into its stand, you noticed that Duusu had fallen asleep on a few stems of the fruit she had been eating. You cleaned the area up and threw away all of the pieces, not too sure what to do with your time now. It was merely mid-afternoon, and you didn't have any homework to work on. Gabriel would probably want for you to be practicing further, but you didn't want to be suddenly caught outside by someone. You wouldn't be able to handle that situation just yet.

Your stomach rumbled at you in irritation, angry that you had managed to miss both breakfast and now lunch thanks to Mr. Agreste. The strawberries really hadn't been enough. At the same time though, you didn't feel like searching for more food. It was already fairly late, you could just wait till dinner time. Feeling like you at least had some right to do so, you set the conked out Duusu into your hair and set about to exploring the large manor.

Searching through the hallway you were now living in, you discovered Adrien's room in one corner, suddenly feeling grateful that he was not home at the time. All the other doors were locked tightly though. Grimacing, you continued on, hoping that you wouldn't get yourself lost in these winding halls. You walked up some stairs that lead to nothing but dead ends. Going down some other stairs took you to more halls just full of locked doors. You walked past Gabriel's office and through the dining room, deciding that you didn't want to bump into your mom right now. Walking through the front hall, Natalie glanced at you from her desk but continued with her work, not seeming to care.

Finally, you ended up at a pair of very large double doors that you had not noticed before. Feeling enticed and hopeful, you pushed on one and it swung inwards, definitely not locked. With a sigh of happiness, you pushed it all the way open and saw a large vacant area before you. There were many tall windows scattered at various places along the back and right walls. In front of them there were dark velvet drapes, but they were all currently tied open. Towards the back of the room, there was a small stage and a desk with some wires around it. The entirety of the floor was smooth hard wood, probably oak. Your breath was completely gone; this was a ballroom.

Squeeing a bit, you ran across the slick ground to the desk and messed with the wires, seeing that some were meant to be plugged into instruments or a computer. You desperately searched through them, trying to find the one that could work for your purposes and you heard a tiny yawn come from your hair. Duusu flew out, rubbing her eyes and noticed where you guys were. "Ah, this place is so huge! What is it for?"

You finally found the wire that you wanted and you fished your phone out to plug it in. "This is a ballroom, Duusu. One for playing music, performing, and dancing." You chuckled and noticed the surrounding speakers dotting all of the walls encircling the room.

Starting to scroll through your music, Duusu flew around, inspecting everything with great interest. "To think the house of Gabriel would have such a place. I wonder if it's ever been used!"

Shrugging you found the playlist you were searching for and clicked on your favorite of the electro swing music. The song came blaring through all of the speakers and so you adjusted the volume, enough to where it was still loud but not so much the walls shook. Feeling lively, you took off your heels and began to twirl across the dance-floor to the music. Duusu glided around you in wonderment and enjoyment, seeming to not have been so free in quite a long time. Honestly you felt the same. Being able to have the smooth jazz completely surround you in this open place where you were alone, it was an amazing feeling.

Closing your eyes, you let the music take control of your body. Your feet moved with expert precision to the beat, your torso following along with them. You mixed together classic swing moves that you had learned with a modern flare. The song wound down and you ended with a pose. Your hands wrapped around your midsection, one foot slightly behind the other, and your face turned towards the ceiling with your eyes partially opened.

Duusu was laughing somewhere behind you when suddenly, you heard a gasp and felt the rustle of your hair. Without moving from the spot, you turned your head towards the doorway. Much to your discomfort, Gabriel stood there as stiff as a board. He noticed you looking at him and he smirked, stepping forward while performing a slow clap. He shook his head, "I didn't take you for a dancer."

With a pout you turned away from him, hearing the next song in the playlist start to sound out its notes. "I doubt you know much about my life. I'm just an employee." You started to twirl to the next song, intent on ignoring him. Why couldn't he just leave you alone? He had just threatened your mother a few hours before.

"Aw, don't be like that." In the middle of a turn, you felt something catch your wrist and send you spinning in the other direction. You hit a solid mass and stumbled backwards a little. What kept you from falling was the same thing that had grabbed your hand and another force that went onto your waist. Looking up, you saw that it had been Gabriel. The closeness of him almost made you feel sick. "After all, we have just entered into a whole new partnership. Besides... your dancing... it gives me an idea."

What was he talking about? What on earth could your dancing have to do with defeating Ladybug and Chat Noir? Too weak to struggle against him, you grudgingly put your hand on his shoulder and let him mindlessly drag you across the floor as he was deep in thought. Surprisingly, his footwork was actually fairly decent, especially for a man you were pretty sure despised dancing.

His voice startled you for the second time that day. "I have a new design line that I believe could work very well with this. With all the different companies at play right now in this season, I could use a presentation that stands out... even though I may not like it that much." You had never actually heard him work through things before. For as long as you had been employed at the business, Gabriel Agreste had never actually been to the company headquarters. He always seemed to be calling other designers over the phone and spouting everything off to them.

Seeming to settle on an idea, he started guiding you through some dance steps, taking control of the movement as was the man's role. The swing era music roared through the room and you were surprised he was keeping with the uppity beat. The waltz seemed to be more his style. He spun you around and let go, letting you twirl away and start up your own steps. You heard a clack of shoes and saw that he was keeping time behind you, you couldn't help but chuckle at your boss. "I didn't take you for a dancer either."

The music came to an end and he resumed his rigid posture, positioning his tie. "I am not. I'm merely testing something. Now..." he started heading towards the door, "If you would come with me, there is something I want for you to try on. If you hadn't been blasting music you would have gotten the message. You had best be more careful about that considering..."

You groaned and rolled your eyes, but technically he was right. You needed to be more careful, especially since your Maman's life depended upon your due diligence. Snatching your phone from the cord and grabbing your shoes, you ran after him, struggling to put the heels back on. He led you back to the office and you closed the door behind the two of you. This time there was no need to lock it.

Gesturing to several dummies in the middle of the room that hadn't been there before, Gabriel continued on to his desk. "Put them on." Great... you were having to do work at home now. You thought he would just be wanting opinions on things.

You pulled your hair tighter and scanned the dummies before you. Each had an identical sleeveless dress on them, although the colors were all different. Upon further notice, some had slightly different patterns on them as well. Starting with a dark blue one that had lace around the chest and beading in the skirts, you unzipped it from the stand and went towards a divider that was in the corner. Duusu flew out of your hair to give you some privacy, and just before pulling the divider closed, you saw Nooroo come out to join her as there was no one else in the room.

You changed quickly and with preciseness, as was your job now for 4 years, and you stepped out, wearing the dress. You walked into the middle of the room and stopped there, not wanting to approach him if you didn't have to. He had taken his jacket off and draped it over a chair, putting a pin cushion on his wrist and a measuring tape on his arm.

Crossing your own arms and turning your face away from him, you tapped your foot in impatience. He stopped a few feet in front of you and scratched his chin in thought. "Put the heels back on."

"They obviously won't go." Nevertheless you turned and did as he said, grabbing them and putting them on to stand a couple of inches higher.

He circled you, making you feel like a piece of meat. His cold eyes made you feel so much more uncomfortable than those of Francis', whom was your extremely gay stylist over at your main job. "It doesn't matter if they match or not, I need to see the dress with this stance and height."

He stepped forward and started pulling at the dress, making certain areas tighter and fastening them with pins. You rolled your eyes and let him mess with it, realizing this was going to be your life now. Gabriel finally moved back to stand in front of you and give you one more look over. He snapped fingers and smiled. "Perfect, now on to the next one."

You sighed and looked up at Duusu and Nooroo playing with each other. At least your time here was bringing some good. Snatching the next dress from the mannequins, you hurried to carefully change out of the clothing full of sharp needles. He repeated this process again and again, prodding you constantly. Did Adrien have to deal with this too?

As much as you hated it, the dresses were beautiful. You had only ever had to work with the clothing and friendly coworkers before. Ever since you had started modeling, you always admired the fashion that Gabriel Agreste put forth for the shoots and the shows. These dresses reminded you of the first time you had thrown on that outfit at the father daughter party. They were so delicate and yet so strong, showing off the curvature of your body and holding themselves up without being uncomfortable. Each color had a subtle differentiation of the lace, patterns, beading, and sewing.

You had almost lost track of how many times you had changed before the door burst inwards. Duusu fled to your hair and Nooroo swooped back into Gabriel's jacket on the chair. In came your Maman bearing a platter of something that looked as delicious as it smelled. She started when she saw you, and then let out a big grin, continuing past the two of you and towards the desk. "I didn't know that the two of you would be working, I would have brought some food for you too."

Gabriel stood you back up and shooed you off towards the divider. "It is fine. We are done here."

You changed quickly and came out to put the last dress back on the mannequin. Gabriel was standing right there with your Maman and you started, holding your heart. "Jesus Christ, don't do that to me."

He took the dress off your hands and glanced over you one last time with the same straight face. "Darker colors definitely suit you the best." Turning, he walked over to the desk to eat alone; your Maman took you by the shoulder and guided you from the room.

She spoke up. "I'm pretty sure Adrien is already eating. I'll drop you off at the dining room on my way back to the kitchen."

You turned to her with an expression of sadness. "Oh can't you eat with us Maman? You are a part of my family anyhow."

Your Maman gave you a little side hug and shook her head. "No no hun. As much as I might want to, in this sort of house it's just not right besides…" she cackled, "I don't want to barge in on your alone time with the boys!"

"Maman!" You shoved her playfully. "One is seven years younger than me and the other is my boss!"

She finally stopped as the two of you reached the entrance to the dining room. "Well, a mother can dream can't she? At least you might gain a friend out of this."

You shrugged and gave her one last hug, holding her tight. "Just stay safe."

She shook her head and walked off. "So unlike you! You know how I am, haha, always playing it safe!" Her voice faded around the corner and you smiled to yourself, still wishing you could tell her about the situation the two of you were in.

Walking through the doorway, you saw Adrien sitting at the table as expected, already leisurely eating what your mother had set out. You sat where you had the previous night and served yourself, merely exchanging waves. You couldn't bear to make eye contact, fearing that even the slightest of things could give away what you now knew about his father. Something, however, caught your eye that you hadn't noticed the previous night. Behind Adrien on the wall hung a family portrait. Upon it was Gabriel, actually sporting a genuine smile, and Adrien, appearing to be so much happier than he was now. Between them stood another woman with the same blonde hair and green eyes as... obviously her son. But where was she? You were pretty sure you hadn't seen her around.

You cleared your throat, knowing you were getting into very delicate territory. You decided to play on the part of ignorant. "So um... Adrien. I just now saw that picture there behind you." He looked startled so you gave him a moment. "I've met two of the three people in that picture. I was wondering... who is the third?"

His eyes opened in shock for an instant and then he looked down in pain. "I... I normally don't like to talk about it, but you told me about your past so fair is fair." He gave you a pained smile. "That is my mother. She... vanished several months ago. We don't really know what happened to her."

You opened your mouth in shock. First your father... and then... this? Biting your lip you looked down and twisted the napkin in your lap. "I'm... so incredibly sorry. I did not know."

He smiled more genuinely now and shrugged. "It's okay, you couldn't have known. Since you are living here now, you should know anyway."

You met his gaze and laughed slightly. Leaning across the table you cupped your hand to your mouth and whispered at him. "Has your father been prodding you around recently for a new line coming out?"

Adrien tilted his head. "Uhhh, no, not that I can think of." He grinned. "What, did he do that to you?"

"Yeah... just a few minutes ago actually." You rolled your eyes dramatically.

He sighed. "You're new here, and he's already going about doing that. I'm so sorry."

You shrugged. "Well, I am an employee and it's the least I can do after being offered a whole new place to stay free of rent." Not to mention the extra hours you'll have to put in being Hawk Moth's little villain assistant, you grumbled in your mind.

"Anyways, he doesn't really bother with me. Once he got to know what fits me, it was always just handed to me right before I had to wear it." He started messing with the food on his plate. "It will probably happen to you too. It's nothing personal, it's just how he is."

Honestly, you hoped that would be how it was. His stare and nearness just gave you the shivers. Granted, the poor boy was clearly not having enough time spent with his father. He always seemed to be alone in this large house. Even with you there, he seemed ready to talk just about anything.

The two of you finished your meals over some small talk and this time he helped you pile the plates for your mother. You continued to stroll and chat while headed to the hallway you shared, but were abruptly stopped by a pile of boxes. They were blocking the front of your room and part of the hallway walk-path. Oh great, your things had already arrived. This was probably why your Maman had been so eager to head off earlier, to get to unpacking her things. Feeling embarrassed you struggled and managed to open your door. "I'm so sorry, I had almost forgot this stuff would be showing up. I'll be sure to have it all moved inside as soon as I can."

Adrien laughed and picked up a box before you could say anything. "It's no big deal. I'll help you out." He smiled at your protests. "I insist! I don't have anything better to do anyways."

You let him take the box into your room and you picked one up yourself, following him. He set it down along one of the blank walls and let out a small exclamation of pain. Adrien started sucking on an area of his finger above a silver metal ring that he wore. Honestly, you hadn't even noticed it before. You stopped and looked at him in concern. He noticed and smirked, "It's okay, just a pinch."

You giggled and walked past him to start stacking the boxes. The two of you managed to move all of them into the room within fifteen minutes. You turned to him. "Thanks so much. On my own, it might have taken an hour!"

He shrugged. "It's fine. Need any more help?"

"Nah, I can unpack everything on my own. It's my own process, ya know."

Adrien laughed. "I can understand that for sure. So um..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I know you're new and everything, but don't be a stranger. I'm just down the hall and things can get boring around here. You play video games?"

You blinked at him. "Uhh... a little bit." Something seemed off. "Your father not let you have friends over?"

He shook his head. "Rarely. He prefers me to focus on my studies. The rest of the time he takes up with his company work."

Looking towards the boxes you sighed. "That's rough. I'm sorry. I'd take you up on that tonight, but I have to start on these. Otherwise they could sit around for months." You smiled knowingly.

Adrien let out a bit of a sad sigh. "Nah I understand. Well, have a good night." He waved and headed out of the room towards his own. You felt terrible, but what you had said was the truth. He was so absolutely alone here.

Closing the door, you turned to the boxes and began to open them, Duusu flying to the couch arm to stare at you in sadness. "My goodness. Mother gone, father is a super-villain who doesn't give him the time of day... I thought I was having it rough."

Duusu shook her small head and watched as you started to pull posters and books from the first box. "Maybe with you here, that can start to change!"

You laughed. "My schedule is going to be pretty hectic as it is. I can give him some company but not really what he needs. Besides, I almost forgot, but tomorrow is going to be a big day! Casting announcements are tomorrow!" You jumped up and down in excitement.

She tilted her head. "Casting?"

"Oh Duusu! The music history department is putting on a full performance of some ancient music. Gaelic, Celtic, Latin... etcetera. I just adore how beautiful and pure those songs are." Duusu smiled in understanding and you continued. "I auditioned for the forest spirit, which is the lead female vocals and violin. I'm really hoping for that part." You frowned. "Although that will mean less time for me and will really conflict with Hawk Moth's activities."

Duusu flew to your shoulder and laughed. "If anyone can handle all of that workload, it's you! Just learn to balance all of it and write up a schedule!"

You poked her cheek. "It's not that simple, but I will try." You sighed. "I almost spaced something else. Tomorrow is also my scheduled day to go into work."

For the next couple of hours, you unpacked more boxes and started setting up posters and scrolls on walls, books in shelves, and figures on their own special areas. The last thing you pulled out of a box was a set of speakers and you smiled at them, remembering the music you had played in the ballroom. With these you would be able to turn your room into your own practice area. However, there was no time to set them up tonight.

You changed into your pajamas and turned out all the lights, moving your book from your pillows this time. Crashing into bed, you saw Duusu land softly on a separate pillow near you and curl up comfortably. You desperately hoped you wouldn't accidentally crush her in the night. Hitting the button on the clock for the alarm, you started to doze off, both excited for and fearing the morrow.

Sample music:

watch?v=oYFDWEZ5JLE

watch?v=_C7UgR_sIW0


	5. Chapter 5: Busy Day

The blare of the alarm almost made you go flying out of the comfort of the sheets. You slammed your hand down onto the button, your hair completely covering the top half of your face in a frizzy mass. Duusu had taken off in a fright, blinking around at the low-light in confusion. You were going to have to try and find a way to turn down the volume on the damned thing.

Making sure that it was okay with Duusu, you took off the brooch for a quick shower and changed into a close-fitting black dress. It was off-the-shoulder and had a corset-like appearance for the midsection. You paired this with some long beaded earrings and black four inch stilettos you pulled from a box. Today was going to be a big day after all. Quickly, but with expertise precision, you put on some dark glittered make-up, complete with sharp eyebrows and wing-tips. You pulled your bag from the side of your bed and re-pinned the brooch, coaxing Duusu into the comfortable purse with a strawberry.

The moment you reached the bottom of the stairs, you caught wind of the tempting scents of pure breakfast food. Normally, back in the apartment, you would just have a quick heap of cereal in the mornings. However, this was a new life. You pushed open the doors to find yourself in front of Nathalie's desk. Oops.

She smiled at you knowingly and pointed back down the hall to the doors for the dining room. You couldn't help but give this place a quick glance, as you were in there for the moment. In the center of the room there appeared to be a huge desk lowered into the floor. Around the walls, there were mannequins perched with various clothes of previous years' lines. Pictures of Adrien encompassed the area, along with a few large sketches of outfits. In the very back was a monitor perched on a small stand in front of a very large abstract portrait of what appeared to be the same woman in the family photo. Adrien's mother. What was this place?

Trying to not tempt the wrath of the poor secretary, you shook off your curiosity and headed down to the dining room where, once again, Adrien had beaten you to the table. You set your bag down upon the floor and helped yourself to some of the bacon and scrambled eggs, realizing you couldn't eat too much or risk being late to your first class.

Heading out the door along with Adrien, you realized you would need to walk past the high school to get to the university. He waved off his bodyguard in the limo and told him that he wanted to walk that day. The two of you took off with the poor man trailing behind you, rolling his eyes at the forced exercise. The high school only took five minutes to walk to, and you waved goodbye when it came time to part.

As Adrien headed up the stairs, you paused to put in your earphones so you could listen to some tunes for the rest of the walk. Before you could continue on, something caught the corner of your eye. Staring at you from the middle of the stairs with a distrustworthy look was a girl seemingly Adrien's age. She had dark bluish black hair tied back into a couple of small pigtails. She had blue eyes that complimented her hair quite well and she was dressed in adorable pink floral.

She seemed to notice you looking over at her and she attempted to hide behind her notebook. You chuckled and waved at her, smiling sweetly. You thought she must be a friend of Adrien's. She nervously walked down the stairs to you and gave you a look up and and down. "You're _ _, aren't you? One of the star models that works with Adrien?"

So she did know about you. You flushed a little in embarrassment; not many seemed to approach you on the street just knowing who you were. "Yes. That is me."

She wasted no time. "So you're the new girl that's living at Adri... uh... I mean the Agreste's!? Yeah?"

"Oh yep. Haha, that's me. Gabriel really pulled my Maman and I out of a tight spot."

The girl scratched the back of her head nervously. "Oh yeah... I had saw..." You looked away for a moment in awkwardness. The story had been published around the city; any fans of yours would have heard about it. You turned back to her and she was staring at you with a new intensity. "You don't happen to... um... well.. you know..." She delved into a deep whisper, "...like Adrien, do you?"

Your face turned a bright red and you burst into laughter, grabbing the back of your neck. "Oh goodness no! He's seven years younger than me!" You couldn't hold back the chortling but you saw the look of relief pass over her face, and suddenly, you knew. You held out your hand to the girl, who had finally started to smile, and reintroduced yourself.

She grabbed your hand and gave it a shake, smiling widely. "I'm sorry, I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It's so nice to meet you!"

You grinned back at her. "Likewise... so, friend of Adrien's?"

She let go of your hand and poked her pointer fingers together. "Um... you can say that... yeah! I... I am? Yeah!"

Out of nowhere a girl with darker skin and brown hair with light tips put her arm around Marinette's shoulders and waved at you. "Oh my gosh! I knew you were living at the Agreste place now but I had no idea you would be showing up here! I looooove your work." She thrusted her free hand at you. "Hi, I'm Alya!"

Loving the girl's enthusiasm, you shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, haha!"

She snapped her fingers and brought out her cellphone which dangled a little ladybug charm. Popping open the contacts, she brought up a new screen and shoved it at you. "Come on girl, we keep a pretty tight-knit group around here. A friend of Adrien's is a friend of ours! Drop us your number!"

Friend of Adrien? You did live in the same house but... were you friends? You talked and waved and made some conversation, but you weren't too sure if that did make the two of you friendly. Especially considering... his father... You shook your head and exchanged phones, putting your contact information and a special picture into each of the girl's contacts. They gave you their numbers just as the bell began to ring. You waved as they began to run off and yelled after them, "I'll be sure to talk to Adrien a lot about you Marinette!"

She girl stumbled at your remark and Alya helped her up, winking at you. Turning on your sharp heel, you went on your way to the university. Friends huh? You really could do with some of those right now. All that was in your phone was your Maman, Francis, Gabriel, Hawk Moth's secret number, and now those two girls. Turning the music up, you smiled to yourself. Hopefully you could get to know the two of them more.

You finally got to your first class and could barely contain yourself throughout the whole lecture. The casting board would surely be up in the hallway once the teacher was done. The class dismissed and you could hardly walk out of the room, you were trembling so much. You had been cast in leads before, but this one felt so much more special. Surely enough, the board had been question, your name shown in fine silver print next to the role of the forest spirit.

Gripping your bag, you beamed at the board, so happy with yourself. You had put everything you had into that audition. Others that had tried out stood around you; some squeeing and happy, others groaning and slumping over in disappointment. You heard one girl speak up, "Why does that snobby rich slut get special treatment? She's not even that good... Probably slept with the director."

You knew they were talking about you. Your head slumped forward and you looked down, flustered. Did they really think that of you? Special treatment? Having sex for roles? Another spoke up. "At least she has some real talent, unlike the lot of you. That's why you didn't even get cast!"

And another, "Didn't your parents ever teach you about the golden rule? If you can't say anything nice, shut the hell up." There was the sound of a little scuffle. "It's not like she did anything to hurt you anyways! Besides don't be such a little hypocrite. I've seen the notches on your own bedpost!"

A small crowd gathered around you and some clapped you on the back in congratulations. There were murmurings of 'you really are great' and 'don't listen to them, they're just jealous'. You nodded and looked up again, but tears still stung at the corners of your eyes. Why couldn't you just speak up and defend yourself? Why couldn't you just talk to the others? Some were friendly, but it always seemed like everyone was constantly moving on. There were no true friends here. It was time to go into work anyways.

Duusu peeked out of your bag as you walked, heading towards the company campus. She looked up at you, "Don't feel so down. That girl didn't know what she was talking about. Most of them value your talent! It was for the best you didn't give her the time of day."

You smiled sadly at her, "I guess you are right." before the end of the sentence you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You took it out and saw Alya had already set up a group conversation.

'Hey Marinette! Seems we have us a girl on the inside now! Hehe!'

'Hush you! We don't exploit each other'

You giggled at the two of them. They sure got you involved quick. Before heading into work you sent a quick response.

'I don't know... but I do got a sweet set-up for a movie night ;) Adrien invited!'

Francis greeted you with a hug that lifted you up off of the ground and spun you around several times. "Little-bean! It's been muuuuuch too long!"

Laughing at his pet name for you, you had to struggle to regain your balance on your heels when he set you back down. "It's only been a couple weeks."

He pushed you towards the studio space he called his office and immediately tied back his long blonde strands of hair. You put your bag down in a corner and sat in the chair in the center of the room. He immediately lifted up your arm and tickled your armpit. Shrieking and pulling away from him, he snickered down at you. "As I thought! Time for another waxing!"

You pouted at him, but at this point the process was rather painless. One got used to constant pulling of hair for 4 years. Francis pulled out large bib and his favorite scissors. First off, your hair needed to be trimmed and styled. He pulled out the peacock brooch and looked it over for a moment before sitting it down. "Oh damn girl. Fancy jewelry, that was never your style! Who got you that little number?"

He started trimming and you flushed, never really having thought about how you would answer that question if asked. You couldn't say your Maman, as he knew her financial situation. "Um... it was a moving-in gift!" You know it had probably been hot gossip amongst the fashion world that one of Gabriel's models was moving into his house. Granted, you just hoped that the rumors didn't go too far.

"Fancy jewelry for moving in? I wish Gabriel would buy me gems like that for working for him!" He poked your shoulder several times. "Doting on you like that... sure he isn't courting you or something?"

You blushed heavily for the millionth time that day. "Francis! I swear... He doesn't even have enough time for his own son let alone those activities." You waved him off and he subsided.

"Oh fine. I was just teasing you little-bean." You kicked off your heels as he worked, relishing being able to have your feet finally free. The door to the room opened suddenly and a couple of girls came in bearing the waxing kits.

Waving to them, they smiled and got to setting up their equipment. Julie and Veronica were a couple of the other stylists here; they were able to handle the wax a lot better than Francis could and so insisted upon working with all of the models. Surprisingly enough, Adalene came bursting in after them with a huge grin on her face. She was another one of the female models that worked with you. She had long raven black hair that shined even in the dimmest of lights. You were envious of her curves and thick lips, but the two of you got along quite well. She was always chatting and gossiping around the offices, but you had never gotten so far as to exchange phone numbers or hang out.

"Hey!" She called you by your nickname and you slumped in the chair. This meant she had some gossip. Adalene whipped out her phone and started scrolling through a long thread of pictures. They were of the dresses you had been forced to try on yesterday and be fitted for. "You see these?! I can't believe that this is gonna be the new line! They're so... so... for the ballroom, ya know?" She slumped over by the chair and continued to scroll through them.

You snickered at her. "Aw come on. We signed a contract! Besides, I think they are absolutely gorgeous. Who doesn't love a corseted waist and skirts that swish just above your knees?"

She glared up at you. "Um... I don't. Hun, pop is more my style. I don't get into all that waltzing and swing jazz."

Francis moved around in front of you to make one last check of your hair. Upon hearing what the two of you were talking about, he spoke up. "You needn't worry about that Ada. I heard that Mr. Agreste was going to be having a special sort of show for them. Really secretive and such." He scratched the stubble of his chin. "I didn't hear much more than that though. I wonder what's going on with these dresses."

You blinked, remembering what Gabriel had been thinking about yesterday. News of this was already spreading around? The world of gossip really astonished you sometimes.

Francis pulled you from the chair and moved you over to Julie and Veronica, whom were standing at the ready. Julie actually spoke up in her sweet tiny voice. "Yeah we heard about that too." She started to undo the back of your dress. "Something about some private party. That poor Nathalie is having to organize a lot of it."

Veronica nodded and threw your dress to the side, allowing for you to take off the undergarments. "It's probably just going to be at the Agreste place. I mean... it's big enough. And he never wants to leave there anyways."

Francis snickered at her and handed the peacock brooch back to you, though you decided to put it back on later in case Duusu just appeared in the middle of the room. "That's fair enough, granted even any sort of party? The guy's a total shut-in. There's probably going to be heavy enough security that no one would have any fun."

The conversation went on like this as they started to wax down your whole naked body. The first time you had done this it had been absolutely awful. The pain was unbearable and the nakedness was incredibly awkward. However, these people had become like family and the pain faded with repetition of the process.

They had finished the main parts of your body and were starting on your eyebrows when the door swung inwards. In walked an older hefty woman glaring through her glasses down at a clipboard. "I see you did make your appointment this time."

You smiled at her. This was your company manager, Sadie. "Naturally, I'm in the house of my boss who can yell at me endlessly if I don't come here."

She chuckled at your joke and finally looked up at you. "If Gabe ever managed to get out of his own damned office anymore, I'm sure he would. By the way, how is life treating you there now? I heard all the details, as you should have guessed."

Sadie went way back with the Agrestes, just how far you weren't sure, but, she knew more than the rest of the employees. "It's going fine. Adrien and I are actually starting to get along well, Mr. Agreste keeps bugging me in my time off, and I found out about Mrs. Agreste..."

She winced and sat down in the chair you had just came from. "Ah yes. The poor mademoiselle. Thought I knew her better than I did and one day she just goes off somewhere without telling anyone. It was completely unlike her."

You looked at her in confusion. "The two of you were friends?"

Sadie merely shrugged and got back up to go on her way. "In part we were. We hadn't been too close lately because of her conflicting family life." She peeked back at you in the doorway. "If you ever need help with anything, just let me know sweetie." With that she left. If only she could assist you with the issue of their boss being a super-villain.

Francis shrugged and picked up your hand to inspect your nails while Veronica fixed your face make-up. "I didn't know that Sadie was so close to one of the Agrestes like that, I just assumed she got involved with them because of the way she acts."

"I had no idea either... she never talked about it..." Your phone buzzed violently again and you glanced at the screen, expecting yet another message from the gossiping teenagers. However you were unpleasantly surprised; it came from the number that Gabriel had given you. All it said was simply, 'Now.'

You swallowed with nervousness and your hand began to shake. Francis looked at you with concern, obviously seeing the fear in your eyes. Your vision snapped to his and you dropped the phone screen to your side. "Um... I need to use the bathroom."

He merely shrugged and started handing you your clothes to put hastily on. Fortunately they had finished with you anyways. You ran from the office and down the hall to the small one room bathroom the place had. Slamming the door, you hastily put the brooch in with trembling fingers. Duusu appeared in front of you, looking concerned at your expression.

"Duusu... it's time to fan out."

She nodded meekly and flew into the brooch, a flash of light encompassing the room. Once it had finished, you stood there in the cool-touch of the peacock jumpsuit, the feathered mask tickling the sides of your ears. Taking a deep breath, you felt her confidence flow through you and you looked up with a feeling of rejuvenation.

Peeking out of the doorway, you made sure the hallway was clear before dashing towards a window you noticed had been left open. Detaching the large fan from your lower back, you gave it a solid pumping motion and flew through the small opening to the next rooftop. As you continued running, leaping, and flying around the area, you kept your eyes open for any sort of disturbance that these akuma monsters normally caused. Loud screaming and crashing came from your left and so you took off, headed directly to it without batting an eye.


	6. Chapter 6: Masks

A crowd of people were running and screaming down the road beneath you. Wherever it was they were running from, that would be the place the akuma victim was causing havoc. Soon enough, you were in front of the local TV station where there were a ton of iron barriers and cars scattered along the drive. A girl sporting dark colors was laughing maniacally and using what looked like an umbrella to throw wind around.

Sighing, you jumped from the rooftops to land before her as softly as the feathers you sported. She growled at you and pointed her umbrella directly at your midsection, her spiral pigtails bouncing with the movement of her head. You backed up a step and held your fan partially in front of you for protection. "Whoa there, I'm here to help you!"

You saw a glowing purple mask appear in front of her eyes and she paused, tilting her head in confusion. Hawk Moth's voice sounded forth from it, and it was almost like you could hear him inside your head. Somehow he was resonating through the akuma and your kwami, perhaps because Duusu was letting you hear what he was saying. "Stop right there Stormy Weather, she is a friend to help you take out the memory of Mireille... and get what I want from Ladybug and Chat Noir."

The villain growled and lowered her umbrella, staring you right in the eyes through the visor. "Very well, but she'd better help or else!"

"I expect nothing less..." and with that the mask dropped from her face.

Stormy Weather turned and floated off towards the park and you took off after her, although she wasn't moving too fast. Every single billboard and item that had a certain woman's face on it, she was destroying. That must be Mireille. She passed by one bench that had that same face and missed hitting it. With a flick of your fan, a gust of air burst the bench in two. She was looking over her shoulder at you; upon seeing your action she smiled. It had been a test.

You rolled your eyes and she moved faster towards the park, starting to come across more people that hadn't been around for the previous destruction. With a laugh she took off and started attacking various individuals and structures around the park. Making sure she was always within view, you began helping her, focusing more on inanimate things than the people. Although you were under Hawk Moth's thumb, you wouldn't hurt these innocents if you could absolutely avoid it.

Hearing a loud blasting noise, you looked over and saw she had encased the entire carousel in a shroud of thick ice. So she really did have complete control of various elements. Blinking twice you saw someone moving around on the inside of the trap. You recognized that hair; it was Alya! There was a little girl with her you didn't recognize. Frozen in place, you checked the course of action you could take. Freeing her though, it would provoke Hawk Moth's and Stormy Weather's wrath. You had to protect your Maman above all. Sighing and looking away, you followed Stormy Weather to the street; the park thoroughly wrecked.

There was a clang on the iron fence in front of you two, and you looked over to see Chat Noir sliding down a railing while twirling his tail. You had only ever seen him on the news or heard about him from others. This was the first time you were seeing him face to face. You had hoped it would be under better circumstances.

"Hey Ice Queen, what's with all the terrorizing? Why don't you pick on someone your own temperature?" He looked at her through his bright green cats eyes, taking over the situation with a suave composure.

She growled, "My name is not Ice Queen! It's Stormy Weather!"

Chat Noir opened his mouth to respond but stopped when he noticed you behind Stormy. He blinked in bewilderment. "Wait, two akuma victims? I didn't even think that was possible!"

You laughed out loud. "What? I'm no akuma!"

He landed on the sidewalk with utter confusion written all over his face. "Another super hero? You're here to help us take care of her then?" Oh man, you wished that was the case. Your mouth screwed up into a painful grimace.

Stormy Weather let out an evil cackle and swiped her umbrella across the landscape, sending Chat sailing across town and out of view before either of you could say anything more. "What a nuisance!"

You groaned, looking towards where he had landed. "But weren't we supposed to get his miraculous?" Thinking about it, you had no idea what part of him that was.

She giggled and took off, you started running after her, attaching the fan to your back while you weren't using it. "All in good time."

When you reached the street, you saw a figure clad in red standing next to Chat helping him up. It was Ladybug. Stormy raised her parasol to the sky and shouted out, "We should be expecting lightning storms like right NOW!" Bright bolts came down and struck the landscape after dark clouds obstructed the sky. The two superheroes dodged around them expertly.

Ladybug blinked you and glanced at Chat, he merely shrugged. She turned back towards you and gripped her yo-yo tightly. "Are you here to help us!?"

You weren't going to lie to them, besides, the akumatized girl was right next to you. "Just give us your miraculouses, and then this can all be over!"

She shook her head slowly, disappointment showing on her features. "I see, so you're an ally of Hawk Moth. I'm so sorry."

The two heroes began running across the road towards you. Stormy Weather pointed at the asphalt, "Black ice!" Crystals broke out across the ground and the two of them began to slip and couldn't keep their balance. She turned towards you. "Let's guide them to a more confined area. That way it will be easier to lure them into a trap!" She laughed hysterically and you followed her, watching her blast another large screen with Mireille on it.

Hearing a couple of yells and the clack of bricks, the two of you turned around to see Chat and Ladybug leaping from the walls of buildings, their weapons at the ready. You swept your fan towards them at the same time Stormy used her wind and they went flying way back across town along with all of the cars along the street. She grunted with effort and turned her umbrella to a bus, throwing it after them. Grudgingly you followed her to her destination, still feeling awful about the fight you were now involved in.

Helping her continue to destroy the image of Mireille and trying not to think of what Stormy had done to the poor girl, you ended up back at the TV studio. She led you to the main filming room, which was still abandoned from the attack earlier. Setting up a camera, she ordered you to record her doing a weather broadcast while not streaming it to the station. You fumbled with the equipment for a moment as this was not your area of expertise, but sort of figured out what it was you were meant to be doing. Once it was completed, she told you to start forwarding it to the live TV feed and headed over to one of the side hallways, ducking behind the door frame. You flicked your fan and rested on one of the ceiling's beams, readying yourself for the heroes' arrival.

After a few minutes, the main doors burst inward and the two of them ran inside, their weapons held aloft. With a mere slight motion from your fan, they were blown back several feet and you jumped down from the beam to serve as a distraction. Ladybug stepped forward, spinning her yo-yo into a glowing pink shield. Catching her eye, you readied your fan once more. That was the moment you noticed her hair. It looked... so familiar. Then it hit you... Marinette? You didn't dare say a word, fear making you unsure of what action to take. Would she recognize you as well?

She spoke through the whooshing of the yo-yo. "Who are you?! Why are you helping Hawk Moth? Don't you know what he is capable of?"

Ladybug didn't seem to notice your identity, at least for now. You would just have to roll with it. "I am Le Plume! The rest, you don't need to know. I am here..." you paused and bit your lip, "...just because I must be. Give us your miraculouses!"

She seemed to understand what you trying to say at least, she closed her eyes for a moment in pain. "I don't know what he has over you, but I am so sorry. We will work to set you free, Le Plume." She smiled at you. "But for now we will fight. We don't give up so easily!"

Chat Noir ran forward with a yell and that was when Stormy Weather laughed from her doorway, raising her umbrella to shoot purple lighting at the overhanging lights. They crashed down onto the unsuspecting heroes with a deafening clang and the two of you ran, now having to use the fan to keep up with her. She knocked out the building's electricity and continued on, slowing them down further, but you could hear them catching up from behind.

The two of you flew through the final red doors and onto the roof. You propelled yourself up to some sort of electrical box and readied another attack. Chat burst forth dragging Ladybug behind him. They stopped and Stormy let forth an immense laugh, pointing her umbrella to the sky and summoning a cyclone to spin around the group. "You airheads! You fell right into my trap!"

Seeing your opportunity you leaped into the air and yelled, "Wind storm!" while swiping your fan downwards. The winds pushed the two heroes back and into the edge of the funnel cloud. Chat managed to stick out his rod and catch hold of the beam, keeping himself from being swept away. Ladybug didn't have such luck.

You heard a faint 'lucky charm!' being shouted from a distance now, and Stormy went after her, giving you a look. You nodded and leaped at Chat, managing to catch a hold of the stick and work your way up to him. Looking him in the eyes, he shook his head. "Please don't do this!"

Forcing back a response, you finally saw the only jewel that was on his body. His ring. Wait... his ring? It was also familiar. You stared at it, your fingers hovering just above it. Memory of the pinch from the other day came rushing back. Adrien? Oh no... this wasn't good at all. You knew both of these heroes. Before you could think on that any more, there came a solid pressure and then pain in the middle of your back and you were kicked from the rod to the concrete of the rooftop. Barely managing to keep from hitting your head, you turned to look back and saw that Ladybug had come around in the storm and managed to get lassoed to Stormy Weather's foot.

She yelled something you couldn't quite hear at Chat and you saw the momentum of the kick had brought him back into the eye of the storm. You leaped up and started throwing gusts of wind at him, realizing that you only had minutes left now. He dodged them all and took out a large sign that almost fell on top of you. Rolling out of the way of the deteriorating metal, you saw Stormy screaming and getting brought down, a spinning beam almost taking off her head but managing to instead relieve her of her umbrella. Dashing towards it, you weren't quite fast enough for Ladybug. She snatched it with her yo-yo and snapped it in two, as if it were just a dry limb. A dark little butterfly came flying out of the ruined object and she readied herself to catch it. So that was what they looked like.

There came a beeping from the brooch on the back of your head, and you growled in impatience, knowing that this fight was over. Sweeping your fan, you fled the area while they were taking care of the akuma. Even with your help, the akuma victim didn't stand much of a chance against that duo. Their powers were just too strong.

As you ducked around a corner and transformed back, Duusu falling exhausted into your cupped hands, you knew that you had to fight them despite of victory or defeat. This was all for your Maman anyways. Your kwami gave you a sad smile, and you tucked her safely into your hair. The company studio would be closed by now, you couldn't go get your bag and things at this hour. Dammit.

You crossed your arms, thinking over everything that had just happened while starting to walk towards home. Marinette was Ladybug? Adrien was Chat Noir? How had you even managed to recognize their identities? It seemed so obvious that you were very confused as to how they didn't even notice who you were. Some things were for sure though; you wouldn't rat them out and you hoped they would hold the same courtesy to you. Coming up to the gates, they opened as the usual now, allowing you to enter the property.

Walking into the house, Nathalie came out of her office and stopped you with a bundle that she held out. "Someone named Francis had this dropped off for you." You took it with a smile; bless that man.

Surely enough your phone was in the front pocket and you quickly checked through the messages from Marinette and Alya. The last ones were something about babysitting and Alya giving her a call. You shrugged and went to your room to drop off the bag before heading down to dinner. It was getting quite late.

You opened the doors to find that Adrien wasn't there just yet. He must have had something else going on, other than his secret activity. Dinner was served however, and your stomach rumbled. Noticing a bowl of mixed berries on the table, you smiled slightly and grabbed a couple of blueberries for Duusu, oh so stealthily shoving them into your hair since no one was looking. Helping yourself to the rest of the food, fancy rolls and mixed salads, you ended up being half-way done before Adrien came running in, out of breath.

He threw his bag to the side of the table and started putting some things on his plate, flushed from a run. Looking up at you he laughed wearily. "I'm sorry I'm late, I had a photo-shoot in the park and some things came up."

You waved it off, still feeling worried about him discovering who you were, and the two of you struck up a conversation about what had gone on that day. News of your role in the play, which he congratulated you for, and the photo-shoot in the park that had gone astray due to a super-villain attack.

The two of you were still talking when Nathalie came in, looking quite distraught. She threw some papers down on the clear end of the table between you and Adrien and let out a sigh. "I'm not supposed to be talking to anyone about this, but I think I can trust you two and I need some help." Fanning the papers out, you saw some clearer design images of the new dress line and pages upon pages of notes that you couldn't quite read; a lot of the lines seemed to be names. "We are going to be having a... well... a bit of a get-together here at the manor for this new dress line. Things have been quite stagnant at the company lately, and Mr. Agreste wants to do something different to spark interest in the new clothing line. The theme is... it doesn't have a name, but it's swing-masquerade."

She stood up straight and pressed her fingers to her sinuses on the bridge of her nose, clearly suppressing a headache. "I'm supposed to be planning for this, but I'm not a part of the young crowd anymore. I don't know who I could find that would be able to handle music for this event."

Adrien stood up straight, wonderment and surprise on his face. This was clearly something that either hadn't happened in a long time at this place, or had never happened. He spoke up, "Well that part's easy. I know the best DJ in all of Paris, I'm sure he can handle some swing music. Nino Lahiffe."

Nathalie opened an eye and glanced at him. "Isn't that your friend? I'm not too sure if..."

He cut her off and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, if you need advice, I'm giving it to you. There is honestly no one better than him! I insist."

She groaned but wrote down his name on a sheet of paper. "Alright, I will look into him." Smirking she continued, "I might be able to get that to work, as long as he behaves himself." She turned to you. "By the way, I was meant to tell you. This came in the mail for you. It looked suspicious so we had it examined, but it's safe."

She handed you a package that had the University music department's return address on it. It was your materials for the oncoming play; song lyrics, sheet music, dance videos and such. You nodded your thanks to her but she wasn't done talking, "There was also a general flyer with information about donations to help the play; stuff about costumes and ways for others to participate. Mr. Agreste wants you to give this to your director." Nathalie took a thick envelope from the pile of her papers and stuck it in front of you. It was marked with the G and the butterfly of the Agreste business. "He has decided to have the company make the outfits for the performance."

It was your turn to stand up abruptly. You stared down at the letter, but you didn't feel surprise or gratitude at this action. You knew better than that. Snatching up the envelope, you stormed from the room, hearing scuttling footsteps behind you. Nathalie and Adrien were following you; one feeling startled, the other excitement. Coming upon Gabriel's office, you tested the doorknob, finding it to be unlocked. Nathalie reached forward, "No you really shouldn't be..."

However, it was too late. You swung the door inwards, not bothering to close it behind you. Gabriel was at his desk, casually going through some paperwork while he ate. He was in the middle of a bite when you stomped in. Looking up, he raised an eyebrow and rose from his chair, dabbing a napkin at his mouth. You reached the desk before he could swallow and you threw the envelope down in front of him. "What is the meaning of this?!"

He looked from the letter to you and smirked, finally swallowing his food. "I don't know what you mean. I merely found out about the performance you managed to become a part of; congratulations by the way; and wanted to help them out."

It was your turn to smile and shake your head, pressing a finger down on the table. "Everyone knows that you aren't that type of person. I know what this is." From the peripherals of your eyes, you saw that Nathalie and Adrien were peeking in from behind the door. Her's was an expression of dread but Adrien was absolutely beaming. You lowered your voice, "You haven't quite managed to control every aspect of my life, and now that you have found that out, you're caging me in."

Gabriel absentmindedly picked up a mask off of his desk. It was a simple one that was just for around the eyes, and it was pitch black. The piece had some beading and stitching worked into it that you recognized as complimenting one of the dresses you had tried on before. He walked casually around the desk, holding it in his right hand. "As I'm sure you know by now, this company needs to do something to keep from falling behind the rest. The world of fashion is very competitive. By helping out your performance and contributing to the University, we both benefit each other. They advertise for us and we for them." He was finally in front of you and he placed the mask on the bridge of your nose so you were forced to look through it at him. He held it in place with his pointer finger and he leaned in slightly, lowering his own voice, "Although, what you said also holds some truth."

You growled at him and he removed the mask, putting it back down where it had been. He turned to the others and shooed them off; Nathalie dragging the snickering Adrien out and closing the door. "Since you so rudely came barging in here, might as well help me get some more work done."

Crossing your arms, you assumed the stance of ignoring his existence. You didn't want to give him the satisfaction of a response. Duusu flew out of your hair and you noticed Nooroo peek out to see if he could escape without causing a stir. Eventually he did; Gabriel didn't even bat an eye at it.

"I see that you took my advice."

You blinked in confusion, still not turning your head to look at him.

"About the dark colors."

Right, he had said that to you yesterday. Flushing you finally turned to him, your hands in fists. "That had nothing to do with it! I just felt like this today. Hmph." You turned away again, closing your eyes in a huff.

He laughed and walked towards the dummies, where the dresses now stood with their adjustments and final patterns added. Some of them had similar masks hanging by their necks, although they where still in the stages of being designed. "It doesn't matter. You still failed me today."

You slumped on the desk and fiddled with a pencil. "I'm still learning. Things will get better. Just don't blame my Maman. I am trying."

He glanced at you briefly. "I made a promise. I will not break it just so long as you do what I want. You had better learn fast."

Gabriel gestured at one of the dresses and you went over to get it, realizing he was going to make you put all of them on again. The evening went a lot faster than you expected this time. He didn't need to fit them to you again as the experts had managed to hem them perfectly to your body type. Mr. Agreste merely needed to write down some notes as you put on every dress and showed him each angle for his approval.

It was a few hours later when Duusu flew back into your hair and you were able to leave the office. You began to walk to the hall when you saw Adrien run up next to you from the dining area in his pajamas, holding a cup of something warm. You gave him a sad smirk, hoping he didn't notice you still had the letter gripped to your side.

He clapped you on the shoulder and laughed. "Ah man, no one here has been brave enough to talk to my dad like that in a while. You sure startled him." He took a hold of his cup again and took a sip while the two of you began to walk. "I'm surprised that you got off of it though with just having to do some work. He's usually so much stricter. I guess you aren't his daughter, so there is only so much he can do. Still though," he chuckled again, "the only person able to stand up to him quite like that was my mother."

Joining him in laughter, the two of you paused outside of your room. You saw the bodyguard known as the Gorilla standing down the hall in front of Adrien's room, watching you intently. You nervously gave him a wave and turned back to him. "Well, it is rather late... maybe..."

He interrupted you. "But it's the weekend tomorrow. Want to come play a game or something? Or I could help you unpack?" He scratched his head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for pushing you, it's just rather boring here."

You smiled at him, feeling yourself breaking. Waving the Gorilla over, you opened your door and allowed the two of them inside your room. "I'd take the game offer, but these boxes really need to be finished up."

The boy was about to burst from excitement. Was this really that much fun for him? You desperately needed to get that Marinette girl over, asap. Glancing over the boxes, you grabbed a couple that had some items in them that weren't too personal. Helping Adrien sort what goes where, you started to set up the speakers around your room, fastening the wires to the edges molding with some seamless scotch tape.

A few hours later, Adrien had ended up on the couch slumped over one of your books he had started leafing through. The cup was empty on the table next to him. There were only a couple of boxes left now, but those you wanted to unpack on your own and that could be done on the weekend. You poked Adrien's shoulder and he looked up, startled. He stood and you exchanged good-nights before the bodyguard led Adrien back over to his room, closing the door behind them.

Sitting on the bed, Duusu came out once again and flew to her pillow. You looked over at her. "Well, he doesn't seem to recognize who I am..."

She shook her head. "I hope that it stays that way. The two of you are making great friends! It seems like most get pretty charmed by the masks and magic though to really recognize the heroes." She smiled at you. "You might be a first!"

Laughing you fished out your own pajamas and began to change for bed, feeling the drowsiness hitting you hard. You placed the materials for the play and the letter from Gabriel down on the table in a neat pile before shutting off the lights. Hopefully you could finally catch a break tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7: A Secret Locket

Something was poking at your cheek frantically, but you were determined to ignore it. Swatting at the unpleasant pressure, you turned over under the covers with an impatient groan. The poking followed you however, and you cracked open an eye to see a small purplish-grey mass hovering right in front of your face. Yelping, you sat up straight and withdrew from the unrecognized creature, rubbing your eyes to make sure you could see correctly.

Lowering your hands, you saw Nooroo floating in front of you with a distraught expression. He spoke, "I'm so sorry to disturb you, but now was the only chance I had of getting away." Holding the covers up to your chest, you looked around nervously for Gabriel. Why would he be in your room right now? The Kwami shook his head and Duusu flew to your shoulder, listening intently now as your movement had awoken her. "Gabriel is not here. I'm on my own; now please listen quickly as I don't have much time."

He started flying back and forth in front of your vision, as if he were pacing. "I have reason to believe that there will be a disturbance this afternoon. I don't think we should continue to work together the way that Hawk Moth wants us to, it's not sufficient." Nooroo stopped and looked you in the eyes. "If you are meant to be part of the team, so your mother can be freed, I think you should know where the lair is. Please," he looked around nervously, "mid-afternoon, wait on the rooftop and look out for an akuma. Where it comes from there will be an opening in the window. Go through that and you will find it."

Finally you had a moment to speak up. "But... won't that count as disobeying?"

Nooroo whimpered, "Yes but... technically he hasn't forbidden you, as such, from going there. You can argue what I told you, that if you both don't keep such secrets, you can work together better." He started to fly off. "I must go now before I'm noticed missing."

"Wait!" But he was already gone in a flash of light. Sighing, you looked down at the comforter and let it sink back into your lap. "Thank you..."

Duusu slid down onto the blankets and blinked her dark eyes up at you. "I think we should follow his advice. It is correct! Working as a team would better your efforts at finally getting the miraculouses... well..." She looked down. "At least getting your own freedom. I hate to think of your Maman being in such danger."

You bit your lip, thinking of your father. One parent gone in a tragic accident, you couldn't afford to lose the other now. Besides, if she got hurt or even killed, that would pave the way for him to dispose of you too. All this pain and fear... A dark thought slid into your mind and you clenched your eyes shut, shaking your head as a sob racked your body. "Duusu... do you think he could have..."

She was cuddling your cheek now, doing her best to give you a hug. "I know what you're thinking, and I can't give you an answer. But I hope not... please don't cry. I know we can get through this."

You opened an eye and did your best to give her a small half-smile. Looking at the clock, you saw that it was still just 5 a.m. With another sigh, you cupped Duusu and set her back on her pillow; turning in the blankets to make yourself comfortable once again. This time of day was still much too early, especially for a weekend.

It was a couple of hours later before you sat up in bed, yawning and rubbing at your eyes. The day still felt young, but it was clearly going to be an active one. Walking by the windows, you started to drop the pajamas you still wore. A slight movement caught your eye, and you glanced lazily over to see the Gorilla strolling around out back, his eyes on the house. Crap. Flushing heavily, you put the top fully back on and went to the closet. These windows gave you plenty of light, but absolutely no privacy.

Feeling rebellious, you picked out a loose white crop top with some light blue leggings. Dark colors, not a chance today. Since you weren't going to leave the house, you threw on your slippers, tossed on light make-up, and snatched your book from the stand. Duusu flew into your hair and you walked out, planning to take advantage of the few hours you had before Nooroo said the next attack was going to happen.

Adrien had already eaten breakfast by the time you entered the dining hall. His plate was neatly placed on the end of the table and you smiled, feeling grateful he was being so respectful of your mother. Cracking open the book, you took a piece of toast and casually bit into it with a satisfying crunch. One of the doors opened behind you so you glanced over, expecting your Maman to come in. Instead, it was Gabriel whom was completely absorbed in some file.

Rolling your eyes, you turned back to the words splayed out in front of you. You couldn't care less about what he was actually doing in here. He walked by the table and seized one of the remaining crumpets off a plate. That was when he looked up and seemed to notice you were even there. "You're up rather late."

Squinting at your book, you tried to emphasize that you were reading at the moment. Duusu even began growling through your hair at him. "What can I say? I love my sleep..."

He turned back to the file, not seeming to want to eat while you were there. You took another bite of the toast, the crackle breaking the awkward silence. "That clothing is rather obscene."

That comment almost made you spit out your bread. Wouldn't he just leave you alone? You glanced up to him with a growl. "I'm not your charge here, I can wear whatever I like. Haven't you even worked with any models before?"

He rolled his eyes and started to walk to the doors on the opposite side of the room, towards Nathalie's office area. "You are still one of the faces of this company. You need to act accordingly." The doors closed behind him with a solid thud.

You slammed your fist down on the table, the glasses and plates resounding with a sharp tinkling. "Why must he act like he is constantly wanting to pick a fight? I just want to be left alone!" Leaning over and curling up onto your book, you let out a sigh of defeat. "It's not like I'm going out in this anyway. Besides, wouldn't my fans give his company more attention if they saw something they liked?"

Duusu hovered down to the table and crossed her little arms, her head shaking left to right. "It doesn't matter what he says. Gabriel just wants to put you on edge so you will obey him more readily. Just be yourself!" She smiled at you. "Things will work out, I swear!"

You grinned at her. How could such a small creature contain so much hope for others? "Thanks, Duusu. I will try my best." You gathered up your book and finished the piece of toast, ready to head back and finish unpacking your things. "After all, I need to try and keep my sanity to keep Maman safe."

Some of the other doors burst inwards, and you saw your Maman run across the floor towards you, excitement in her eyes. "Did you hear yet?!"

She stopped just short of you and bounced up and down, a wide grin on her face. You chuckled, "No Maman, what's up?"

Spinning around she headed to the table to start picking up the dishes, "Master Agreste will be joining the main hall for dinner tonight! Don't you think Adrien will be so happy?"

You let the door you had partially opened swing closed and you stared at her in a gape. "Wait... what? He never does that though. And wait... you've been talking to Adrien?"

She giggled and waved off the question as if it were nothing. "Oh he's such a sweet boy. He's shown up early just to help me out and chat with me a little." Piling the dishes into an arm she glanced at you, "Anyways, this will be a big deal and I would love to have your help in the kitchen? I'll leave the main to you! Maybe you can impress your boss!" She wiggled her eyebrows and you felt like gagging.

"Maman! I swear; there is nothing remotely like that going on in this house! Please..."

She shrugged it off. "Oh you know I just tease... but the help would still be greatly appreciated! You did pick up quite a few things from me over the years."

Sighing, you decided that there could be no harm in it. Besides, you hadn't been able to spend any time with her since the two of you had moved in. "Sure Maman, I'll have time this afternoon." You just hoped the akuma situation wouldn't take too terribly long.

You headed back to your room and spent the next few hours finishing unpacking your boxes. The rest was personal items; clothing, toiletries, and such. You folded down the waste and put it next to the trash can. Over time you had noticed that the pail had been regularly emptied by someone without you having to lift a finger.

Finally, it was time. You transformed quickly and opened one of your windows to propel yourself onto the roof. Changing back, you asked Duusu to help you keep an eye out. Standing around, you hoped no one would notice you from the street. That would be an awkward conversation. You watched the back area with intensity, and Duusu surveyed the opposite side.

An hour passed, and you yawned in boredom. Would this really be happening today? You had ended up sitting down on the edge, your legs swinging in the free-fall. Suddenly, there was a tugging at your hair and Duusu was frantic. "The akuma! I saw where it came from. Come on!"

You stood in a panic and turned to see the dark butterfly heading out into the city. Doubtlessly, your phone was buzzing down in your room. Nodding, you calmed yourself. Duusu would help you deal with this anyhow. "Time to fan out!"

With the smooth aerodynamic suit now caressing your features, you ran to the other side of the roof and flew off, using your fan to keep you airborne. Turning in midair, you saw a window that had not been on the house before. It was large and circular with a wing-like pattern. Right in the middle, there was a section that was not closed off with glass; doubtlessly where the akuma had come from.

Flicking your wrist, you thrust yourself towards that entrance, pulling in your limbs to make yourself as slim as possible. Managing to fit right through the hole, you immediately opened the fan to alight yourself upon the dark floor, trying not to crush any of the white butterflies that now swarmed around you.

Slowly you stood, leveling your eyes to look at Hawk Moth who stood in the center of the circle of light cast by the window. His blue eyes were opened with shock, the realization of what had just happened still crawling across them. In his outstretched hand was an open locket. You managed to catch a glance of a woman with blonde hair before he clicked it closed and swiftly pocketed it. That must have been his wife; you smiled with your own enlightenment.

Strolling over to him, he growled at you, his fists clenching around the top of his cane. "How did you even... Nooroo!" He shook his head, a small frustrated laugh escaping his lips. "Meddling where he shouldn't have been; I will have to deal with him later... As for you..." He turned his head to face where you stood by his side. "You're having a very bad habit of bursting in to where you aren't invited."

Your smile widened and you giggled, opening your eyes to glance sideways at him. "Not invited? Don't you think I should have been before? You may not be happy with Nooroo, but he was right. If we are going to be working as a team, we shouldn't be keeping such secrets from each other."

You began to circle him and all you heard was the squeaking of leather as he drew his fists tighter. "Team? You work for me..."

Walking back around in front of him, you reached out your hand and poked him in the chest, a smirk upon your face. Digging your finger in, you shook your head. "I saw already. This isn't about what you're leading everyone to believe it's about." You dropped your voice to a whisper, your gleaming eyes meeting his. "You want to bring her back, don't you?"

His jaw dropped in astonishment, his eyes glancing over you while trying to make sense of what you just said. It only took a moment before he regained composure, grabbing your hand and looking away. "You say that with such confidence, but you don't know if you are correct in your assumptions. Either way it doesn't matter."

You freed your hand and turned away from him, staring up at the window wistfully. "But don't you see, it does matter. Instead of you needing to force me to work for you," you peeked back at him, your smile wider than ever, "I now want to help you."

He grabbed his chin and closed his eyes in thought, trying to test his words carefully. This was the first time you were able to see him as just a man; not your boss, not a cruel individual, not even a super-villain. He was a man, and he was in pain. Your heart hurt for him. "Believe whatever you want... but," he looked at you, "come back here after the fight, no matter the outcome."

You nodded and swished the fan, shooting out of the window like a bullet. Taking off in the direction the akuma had gone, you were feeling relief you didn't have to search the whole city this time. Hopefully, his words didn't bring a promise of punishment or pain.

It was just a couple hours later when you came flying back through the window, a large metal covering starting to close behind you. Standing up straight, you rubbed the sore back of your neck. What an awful place for her to have kicked you. With the power's time running thin, Duusu flew out of the brooch and into your hair yawning from exhaustion. At least that villain had caused some sort of time loop, meaning that you hadn't really lost that much time today.

Opening your eyes, Gabriel stood before you, already having transformed back. He gave you a stern gaze, and you waved it off, feeling too sore to get into any sort of fight. "I know, I know. 'You've failed me again!' I'm disappointed too you know, I actually had my fingers on Chat Noir's ring this time."

He shook his head and turned around, gesturing for you to follow him. Feeling nervous, you did so and the two of you approached the back wall of the dome. The place was so dark, you felt fearful that you were going to step on one of the many butterflies that were resting upon the ground. Placing his hand on some sort of panel, part of the wall withdrew and before you was an elevator. Gabriel turned back towards you. "I will show you where the entrance is, but you will not be able to get in here without me. I honor that you will keep the secrecy of the place."

You smiled at him and stepped into the elevator. "Was that really so hard to do?"

He followed you in and the doors closed. The two of you were finally in the light, and you sighed with relief. At least there was not going to be any punishment for your actions today. You spoke up again, "I can honor what you are trying to do, but why not mention any of this to Ladybug or Chat Noir? If they knew, they might be more willing to help, you know?" Especially since you figured that Adrien would rather like to have his own mother back.

Gabriel responded, remotely staring ahead. "That sort of power, even if used for good, is strictly forbidden. They couldn't help me, even if they wanted to. Besides, knowing this, they would figure out who I am. That cannot happen."

You leaned against the wall, your arms crossed. "Well you've already gone and managed to cause so much chaos."

He didn't reply so you waited for the elevator to reach its destination. Before pressing a button that allowed the doors to open, he glanced through a little lens that showed him the area that was Nathalie's office. Seeing that the place was clear, you both stepped out of the corner, the doors quickly closing shut and seamlessly blending into the wall.

Gabriel nodded to you and began to walk off to the far side of the room, "I'll see you at dinner."

Deciding not to ask him about that, you swiftly headed out the doors to grab your phone quickly before heading down to help your Maman out with the food. Food wasn't your passion, but you did enjoy to cook every now and again. Baking was the most fun, especially when it came to desserts to satisfy your sweet tooth.

You dashed through the dining hall and down the hidden stairs into the kitchen where your Maman was already bustling about, setting out various cooking equipment. She noticed you come in and waved you over hurriedly, insisting on getting started as soon as possible. "I'm not even too sure what I should make for tonight. I keep going through these lists that Nathalie gave me. What do you think?"

She bit her lip worriedly as you looked through all the papers she had strewn on the counter-top. Nathalie's layout was very difficult to follow, but you found something about favorite dishes. Scrolling your finger along the list, you found one that sounded perfect. The absolute favorite of Gabriel's, and it was one that Adrien, and yourself, did not mind. Quenelles de Brochet.

You were a little surprised that he would enjoy such a dish, but after-all, as you had to keep reminding yourself that day, he was human. Your Maman nodded with an approving smirk and made sure that the kitchen had all the required ingredients. You desperately wanted to make the Pain au Chocolat for dessert, but she clicked her tongue at you in disapproval. "No honey. Wouldn't it be much more impressive to them if you were to make the main course for this special occasion?"

Slumping over in disappointment, you drew the pike from the freezer to defrost. "It's like you're trying to set me up with one of them. Maman, neither of them are available for me and I'm really not interested."

She giggled and pulled out the baking chocolate while you ran the warm water bath. "Oh I know sweetie. I just want for you to make friends is all! With your boss that means stability, for the both of us really."

You rolled your eyes and started drawing out all the ingredients you needed for the dish. It wasn't going to be perfect as you only had about six hours to work on it instead of a day, but you were going to try your damnedest to make it edible. After hours of simmering, chopping, sneaking berries to Duusu, and baking, finally there were two golden brown logs of mouth-watering seafood cakes before you. You divided them into six equal pieces for all of the people in the house then garnished them with a piece of crayfish and mint leaf.

Three of the plates were set onto a silver tray which your Maman directed you to carry, and she expertly gathered up the bread, butter, Pain au Chocolat, a Merlot, apple juice, spare plates, and some glasses. She really amazed you sometimes. The two of you walked into the dining room where Adrien already sat waiting. His father remained absent while the table was set, and you sat in your regular spot while your Maman poured some of the juice for Adrien and the Merlot for yourself. You didn't much care for the sour flavor of the wine, but you tolerated it for the professionalism.

Adrien looked up at your mother in admiration, "Thank you so much. This all looks so delicious. I'm sure my father loves your cooking just as much."

She laughed and stood up straight, her job now done at the table. "Well I can take credit for the sides of this meal, but you can thank her for the Quenelles de Brochet." Your Maman briefly nodded to you. "She made them herself for this special occasion."

You blushed heavily and wringed your hands in your lap. Adrien merely gave you a grateful smile. "Thank you. This really is special. My father doesn't give any of us the time of day."

Your Maman left the room and you smiled awkwardly. You really wished his words rang true with you. Instead you had to deal with Mr. Agreste rather consistently due to the new line and his Hawk Moth endeavors.

The two of you sat in silence for a couple of minutes, glancing at each of your phones with impatience. Was he still showing up? The wooden bang of a door made the two of you look up, and there he was. He was still dressed in his regular clothes, but something about his demeanor seemed different. This was the first time you were really at a formal situation with both him and Adrien around.

He sat at the end of the table, uncorking the Merlot your mother had left there for him. Pouring half a glass, he set the bottle back down with a small thump; the only noises piercing the air. Gabriel glanced back and forth between the two of you, both looking towards him expectantly. He sighed and adjusted his glasses, "I presume you want some sort of explanation before we eat. Very well, I'm here to talk about the event that will be happening here next month."

Adrien smiled and took a bite of his food, apparently having expected this to be the case. You sat back in the chair and stared at your own plate with some intensity. After all, this was going to involve your work and your schedule.

Gabriel continued, "The 'ball', for a lack of a better word, is going to be a swing-masquerade taking place in the ballroom on Saturday the 25th. You will be modeling the dresses for the new line in front of the patrons. There will be journalists, other designers, important media faces," he waved his hand dismissively, "... and so on. What we have planned is a bit of a show where you will dance with the dresses with a designated partner. After that will be more of a lax open dance for the guests."

He cleared his throat and took a sip of wine, swirling the liquid around in his glass. Adrien looked like he couldn't believe a word his father was saying; he had stopped eating for the time being. "Security will be maxed out. Naturally, our new chef will be catering for the event. We will also have a simple bar area and this Nino that Nathalie found will be handling the music." He took another drink. "I think that just about covers it."

You snatched up your own glass and took a sip, letting the burn of the alcohol calm your nerves. Taking a deep breath, you looked to him. "Dance partner... do you know whom that will be?"

Gabriel set down his glass and picked up his silverware, glancing up at you momentarily. "That has not yet been determined. I'm not aware of the dancing abilities of the other models."

You almost hated yourself by bringing it up. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was because you did not care for the grand majority of the male models that worked at the company. Maybe it was both of those reasons. "Well, I know you said you hated it, but you were able to keep up with me before." You grabbed your own fork and speared the crawdad tail off of your plate. "You said you wanted to grab attention in any way you could. With the owner of the company and designer of the dresses dancing with the model and showing off his work, I'm sure that would draw some interest."

He had cut part-way through the cake but he froze at your words, his eyes shifting uneasily towards Adrien. The boy looked like he was about to have a fit. Finally he burst out in laughter, "You... danced? The two of you danced? I didn't even know you could!"

Mr. Agreste sighed and finished cutting through the food, pausing once more before taking a bite. "Anyways, you have made a point. I will have to think about it and what sort of image that would make for the company."

You shrugged and bit into the crawdad, the spice flooding through your mouth. Gabriel finally took his first bite as well, and he chewed in silence, his eyes closed. He started cutting again while Adrien uneasily went back to his own food, the clinks of silverware on china becoming the only sounds in the room.

It was odd having Gabriel with the two of you there. Adrien looked at you with a knowing eyebrow raise before he turned back to his father. "So... is there anything I can do to help out with this event?"

The man swallowed and shook his head, picking the wine up again. "No. You will not be attending."

A shocked silence followed his words. Adrien stood up abruptly from his chair, the resounding scraping startling everyone at the table. "But father, this might be the only dance we ever have here! I don't want to miss it!"

"My answer is final. You are a minor and who knows what trouble you could end up in."

Adrien seemed like he was about ready to storm off. You rose suddenly as well, the sound of your chair making everyone look over to you. Crossing your arms, you looked down at Gabriel and narrowed your brows in anger. "That isn't fair to him and you know that. He is a responsible boy who has only done what you've wanted for year after year. You should reward him for that."

Mr. Agreste's anger was rising. He looked like he wanted to throw you out of the room. "Do not lecture me on how to raise my own son!"

You growled in response, throwing your right arm out to the side. "If you don't let Adrien attend the event, you can forget about my participation!"

Gabriel's eyes widened in shock at your words, not expecting such a rash decision in this situation. Adrien looked at you in awe, not having been stood up for like that in a very long time. There was utter quiet as the man tried desperately to search for an answer, but you had trumped him. He needed you for this event; no other female model could formally dance and he had all the dresses fit to your body form.

He narrowed his eyes at you, his teeth bared in a bit of a snarl. Eventually, he sat back, letting out a breath of air. He calmly picked his silverware back up and merely nodded, going back to the food. "Very well."

You smiled at Adrien and he nodded back at you, his eyes glimmering. You sat back down in a huff and drank more of the wine. "Besides, you said security would be maxed, no?"

Gabriel glared at you, but you just smirked. The three of you managed to finish the Quenelles de Brochet fairly quickly, and the bread began to be passed around. Mr. Agreste, surprisingly enough, began the conversation again. "Our chef really outdid herself this night."

Adrien awkwardly cleared his throat and gestured to you. "Um... actually father... she made the Quenelles de Brochet for this meal."

Gabriel didn't appear surprised, but he laughed lightly. "I see. A girl of many talents. I didn't know you could cook as well."

Your face turned a bright red and you stared down at the bread on your plate. "Following a recipe isn't that difficult."

He waved his hand. "Don't be so modest. Why don't you sing something for us, while we are all here together? Hmm?" His ice-blue eyes bore into you.

"Wi...without music?"

"Isn't your voice music enough?"

Swallowing nervously, you stood again, much more calmly this time, and cleared your throat. You couldn't very well turn down his request. This was an odd form of punishment. Clasping your hands in the front, you began the melody while looking down. You sang the modern words of 'Human' by Christina Perri, the song's words ringing true with your feelings. Somehow, it had just come to you. Part way through the song, towards the chorus, you looked up and raised your hands, closing your eyes. You didn't open them again until you let out the last word, glancing around at the two men. Gabriel actually appeared a bit humbled. Adrien might have been on the verge of tears. You sat back down feeling embarrassed.

The rest of the meal went smoothly for which you were relieved. There were awkward statements here and there, but at least no more fights. Gabriel offered to fill your glass, but you shook your head, not wanting the alcohol to cloud your mind right now. All three of you stood up to go your separate ways for the night. Mr. Agreste gave you a nod and touched Adrien's shoulder before leaving without another word.

Both you and Adrien began to stack the plates together for your Maman. You laughed. "Well, that could have gone so much worse."

He snickered. "I'm still trying to imagine him trying to dance." With a more sincere look, he smiled. "Thanks for standing up for me like that. He really doesn't let me do anything."

You shook your head. "Just stay away from the bar and I'm sure things will go fine. These well-to-do people aren't really the most dangerous types."

The two of you were now headed to the hall to turn in. You nudged his shoulder playfully. "Be sure to invite a plus one to dance with!"

He blinked in realization, his eyes wide. "Oh man... that's right, it's a dance I'm going to."

The two of you paused in the front hall and you laughed at his distress. "Isn't there anyone you would fancy coming here?"

Adrien blushed and looked around nervously. "I... well... it's no one I can actually really invite, ya know?"

You shook your head. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific..."

He sighed and whispered, "I wish I could invite Ladybug."

Blinking in shock, you glanced down at his ring and wondered if this was him letting you know that he knew. But the panic soon passed as you remembered the the heroes were celebrities here. Adrien was just pining after someone he didn't think he could have. Smiling painfully you thought of poor Marinette having the same feelings for Adrien. Oh man, if they could only see through the masks.

Patting him on the shoulder, you started to lead the two of you back to the hallway. "I understand the feeling. Is there... anyone else you're fond of."

He blinked at you and bit his lip, deep in thought. "Well... for appearance purposes my dad would probably prefer if I invited Chloe..."

Chloe... Chloe Bourgeois? The mayor's daughter? You shuddered at the name, having actually met her before. She was such a self absorbed little brat and you had the misfortune of meeting her at some walks and photo-shoots. She claimed the two of you were best friends and did a ton of things together. In reality, you couldn't stand her. She was constantly putting other people down.

"Um... well don't rush to any conclusions. I did meet a couple of the girls at your school the other day, can say they were fans." You smiled mischievously. "One of them was really rather nice, oh what was her name... Marinette! Really friendly, actually got her number..."

He glanced over at you and grinned. "Oh yeah! She would probably enjoy something like this, don't you think? She's really awesome."

Score!

The two of you paused, once again, in front of your door. "I'm sure she would absolutely love it! Way more than that Chloe anyways." You whipped your phone out and sent a quick little message to the group chat, 'Get ready for the invite of your life Mari, come Monday!'

Feeling exhausted from having to deal with Gabriel practically all day, you waved down his invite for some games and decided to set a time for the morrow where you would finally play. You waved goodnight and collapsed against the inside of the door, raising the phone to your eye level. All that appeared on the screen was a panicked, 'What?! D:'


	8. Chapter 8: A Change in Pace

A few days had passed now, rather uneventfully. You partitioned the time between spending some of it with with Adrien's video games and practicing your music for the upcoming play. The start of rehearsals wasn't for another couple weeks yet. Gabriel remained out of sight, much to your relief. Going back to classes, you had managed to gossip some more with Marinette and Alya. The former had gotten invited to the dance by Adrien, and she was absolutely ecstatic about it. She was completely afraid that she was going to make a fool of herself. You desperately wanted to tell her that you were going to be the real fool by having to dance with your boss, but sadly that was top secret information.

Every night while you practiced the violin, you thought of a perfect time to have Marinette, and possibly Alya too, over for a movie. You weren't too sure if that would be better to do before or after the dance. Honestly, it would depend on how the two lovebirds clicked during the masquerade. Eventually you decided. It would be for the best to try and drag them together beforehand. The earlier the better.

It was a quiet mid-week afternoon when your phone buzzed on your nightstand. Sighing, you set the violin down on the coffee table and walked over to it, pressing the screen to reveal the message. You had been distracted with one thought for quite a while now and it particularly plagued you on this day. The dark visions kept coming back to your mind and haunted your dreams. Did Hawk Moth kill your father? Could he have?

There it was. The singular word 'Now'. You set the phone back and nodded to Duusu, who had been lounging on the table with some raspberries. With a brief flash, you were out the window and soaring along the edge of the house. Knowing where the window was now, you headed inside without any hesitation. Hawk Moth stood in the center of the room, a white butterfly resting upon his hand.

He didn't acknowledge your presence, but you knew he had seen you. "Disappointed by Ladybug, and jealous of Cat Noir. The perfect formula for disaster." He cupped the butterfly with his other hand, and a dark power came from his suit to overcome the little creature and transform it into a mischievous entity. "Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!"

You watched the evil little thing flutter to the window and you crossed your arms over one another, grabbing your elbows. Hawk Moth turned to you in confusion. "Don't forget your place. Go after him!"

Looking up, you bit your lip. You knew you needed to ask him, or these horrid thoughts would keep on distracting you. Walking up in front of him, you glanced back, keeping your eyes lowered to the floor. "It's been bugging me for a time, but I need to know. I still want to help you find your wife, for Adrien's sake but..." your voice trailed off, trying to find the best way to word it. "...did you... did you kill my father?"

You were met with a shocked silence. The question had seemed to come from nowhere. Hawk Moth's jaw dropped a little, but only for a moment. He snickered menacingly. "Do you really think you're so special? That I would kill off one of my best employees just to take advantage of you? Any one of them could have had something happen to cause some dire times. It just so happened to be you."

At those words, you winced. He could have just said no. You were suddenly reminded of the other girl's words from earlier in the week. They stung just as much as this. Why was everyone pitting against your state of mind like that? Fighting at the stinging of your eyes, you turned away, raising a hand to rub at them. Your shoulders shook a moment. "Really? Twice in one week?"

You stood back and angled yourself towards the window. Hearing the creak of Hawk Moth's suit behind you, you flicked your wrist and headed out after the akuma. You didn't want to hear anything more from him today. At least he hadn't killed your father, but he had hurt your pride.

Putting Gabriel out of your mind, you went to handle the current akuma situation as per usual. You sheltered doubt of ever being able to beat Ladybug and Chat Noir, but you sure as hell wasn't going to not try. This was all for your new friend Adrien. It wasn't until close to dinner time that you returned to the mansion, barely making it through the window before Duusu came shooting out of the brooch. You managed to land in a crouch instead of tumbling to the hard concrete.

Standing, you walked to Gabriel and turned your back, completely ignoring him. He reached out a hand towards you, but you spotted it, smacking it away. Narrowing your eyes, you hissed, "Don't."

Surprised, he shook his head and the two of you sunk into the floor. The moment you reappeared in front of the portrait, you stormed off to your room, leaving a bemused Gabriel behind you. You didn't want for him to see how upset you were and quite frankly, you just didn't want to talk to him either.

Not feeling hungry, you flopped down on the bed and opened your book while Duusu went over to where some of the raspberries still were. You broke into tears after just a little, the stress finally catching up to you. Duusu came back over and patted your hair, chewing mournfully. "It's okay. Sometimes it's good to cry."

Eventually, you were just sniffling, wiping the tears off of the pages. Glancing over at the clock, you realized you had been crying for over an hour. Your eyes burned red and your hair was mussed. Trying to clean yourself up with your sleeve, you turned back to your story, not wanting to really put in the effort to stand up or do anything else. Duusu had fallen asleep in your hair.

You heard the door to your room open. You sighed, but didn't bother moving from your spot; sprawled on your stomach, the book open on the pillow. Glancing from the pages, you saw Gabriel standing in the middle of the room between the couch and the bed. He had never come in here before. His arms were folded behind his back and he cleared his throat. "Your mother said that you were not at dinner this evening."

Was this his attempt at showing concern? Why wouldn't he show the same interest in his son? You blew air out quickly through your nostrils and turned the page. "Yeah."

"You can't be doing that if you plan to stay healthy."

With a 'mhm', you fiddled with the next page of the book.

You heard some footsteps as he came closer. "If we are to be dance partners, we should really practice."

Your eyes widened but you didn't dare turn to him. Honestly, you believed he wouldn't take your suggestion seriously and that you would be tossed to some random hired on person to dance with. Shaking your head after a moment, you turned the next page. "If it were a true stage performance, then maybe. This is swing dancing. It doesn't need practice, just heart."

You heard a frustrated sigh. "What is that even?"

You looked up at him as he was now a few feet away looking at the writing before you. Sitting up, you closed the book. He let out a bit of a thoughtful noise when he noticed the state of your face and hair. You bit your lip and tried to straighten it up a little. "It's a written history about the city of Paris. I find it interesting since I'm not in any of those types of classes."

He merely scoffed. "Seems like a pretty useless way to spend one's time."

Raising an eyebrow, you fiddled with the binding. "When was the last time you even picked up a book? Fiction or otherwise?"

Gabriel remained silent, looking away while grabbing his chin in thought. With a groan, you got up from the bed, going over to the ladder to climb up to the bookshelves. You ran your fingers over the spines, trying to find just the one you were looking for. "Aha." You pulled a certain book from the shelf and slid back down.

You casually held it out to Mr. Agreste, "I think you should try this one."

He raised his eyebrow, and much to your surprise, he took it from your grasp. The volume contained a detailed history on the fashions of France. Thinking he was going to leave, you rolled back onto the bed and re-opened your own book. You heard a creak from behind, and you turned your head.

He had sat down in one of the chairs by the coffee table and opened the book, his blue eyes scanning through the words. Gabriel almost looked relaxed as he leaned back, his foot resting on one knee. Flushing, you realized you were staring and you went back to the pages. What was all that about? Why couldn't he go spend this time with poor Adrien? It wasn't like your temper from earlier deserved this much attention.

Deciding on just ignoring him again, you went back to reading, turning page after page. There was something about the smell of musty paper and fascinating stories that made the hours pass by while absorbed in a novel.

It wasn't until three more hours had passed before you heard a yawn from behind you. Damn. You had actually forgotten he was there. You rotated your head slightly and looked at him once again. His eyes were half-closed and he was slumped over on one arm while the other one turned the pages. It was at that moment that he closed the book over one finger to keep his place. Gabriel stood and noticed you observing him. You whipped your head back to your book, but used your peripherals to watch.

He nodded to you, his mouth actually upturned in a bit of a smile. "Thank you." Mr. Agreste pivoted on one foot and walked towards the door. Just before closing it, he looked back. "Please go eat something before bed. Your mother has leftovers in the kitchen." With that, he was gone, as suddenly as he had come.

With a sigh, you realized that he was probably right. After all, you had a photo-shoot tomorrow. Sitting up was a pain, but you managed and let yourself stretch out your back and arms. Standing, you slunk over to the door and made sure the hallway was clear before heading out. Everything that had happened could have been so easily avoided. You made a promise to yourself that you wouldn't let him affect your emotions like that again. Later that night just before falling asleep, you sent one last text message out to the girls. "Saturday, my room, movie sleepover!"

The following morning, you sprung out of bed and managed to get ready at a reasonable time. You strolled into the dining room wearing a tight-fitting flared black dress that stopped mid-thigh, a pair of over-the-knee high heeled charcoal boots, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses to match. It was a work day after-all.

Adrien was still there at the table eating some oatmeal. After your mom's official start day, she had a certain amount of time where she got to make whatever she wanted for the family. Now, she had to keep to a certain amount of calories to keep them all in shape. He looked up and waved. "Photo-shoot?"

You sat and nodded, taking a little serving for yourself. "Naturally. And I happened to hear that one of the new lines is going to be announced later this week." She rolled her eyes. "Though I believe Adalene probably already knows, knowing her." You snickered to yourself.

Adrien laughed as well. "Well I have to go in to work today too, want a ride over there?"

Still feeling exhausted from last night, you gave him a smile. "Oh please! I don't want to be collapsing from exhaustion in the pictures. Francis would probably kill me!"

-

Adalene sat down with a massive thud that startled the heck out of you. Turning your shocked eyes towards her, she chuckled and shoved a thick catalog in front of you. It was an unofficial transcript that had not yet been published and had many messy notes written across it. Some of them were by Francis, others were by Gabriel. The former had probably been the reason that Adalene had this in the first place. Currently, you were sitting in a chair next to the shooting area of the building. Francis had already gotten your make-up and hair in place, and Veronica had gotten you into a two piece set of the most current line that was running.

Refusing to take the mass of papers from her, you crossed your arms and turned away. "You know very well we aren't meant to be looking at that. What if you were to get fired?"

She merely scoffed and sat it down in your lap. "Aaand you know very well that they wouldn't fire some of their best employees for something this petty." Prodding it with her finger, she dug the corner deeper into your thigh. "Trust me, you need to get a load of the sets that are coming out after those fancy dresses you are going to be showcasing. Its... not something that we are used to... I mean we've never modeled stuff like this. But I have to say I'm quite excited. I mean, this is my calling for sure!"

Oh great. If it was going to be perfect for Adalene, it was going to be absolutely awful for you. Biting your lip, you flicked your irises back to the catalog and wrapped your fingers around the edges. Curiosity besting you, you flicked open the pages to reveal a bunch of messy sketches and quickly jotted down notes. The further you opened it, the more precise the images became and your jaw dropped. It couldn't be... You knew the lines had recently spread out into jewelry and cologne which were odd, but you never thought they would ever try to produce clothing in that department.

Your heart dropped as you flicked through more of them. Adalene laughed. "Your face has gone super white, girl. Really, this will make your career!"

Picking up the book, you held open the pages and shoved it into her face. "But Ada! This isn't what my career is meant to be. I never signed on to be an underwear model." Your pale face flushed pink and you drew the catalog back into your lap. "I don't even know how this would have gotten taken on by this company. I mean this..." you gestured towards the outfit on the pages, "...this is practically lingerie; with the garter and negligee." You shook your head. This was all coming very out of the blue.

She laughed. "We signed contracts when we became employees here. You know very well that we all have to take on what the company decides to produce for us. Besides," Adalene paused to motion at your body, "keeping all of that hidden away from your fans should be a crime."

You threw the book at her and laughed as she caught it. "You're going to have to give me some lessons in confidence or something. Just the thought of parading around practically naked in front of a crowd makes me nervous. It was bad enough with the summer dresses last year."

Adalene leaned back in her chair and made a thoughtful noise. "Ah yes. My boobs looked absolutely fantastic in those."

Groaning heavily, you stood as the cameraman started to yell at you for being too slow to come back to the photo-stage. He cursed in Italian and forcefully positioned you while telling you the expressions he wanted for the picture set. You played along as per usual, wanting to get through each of the outfits as quickly as you could for you wanted to get home early enough to have a moment to relax.

The door in the side of the room creaked open and you glanced over, expecting Francis to have returned from the clothing closet. Instead, Gabriel Agreste himself walked in through the door. Your breath caught in your throat. Why was he here? He never even left the house!

At the moment, you were laying on the floor of the set with your back arched to just barely expose your stomach through the short floral top. Upon seeing him, you immediately sat up straight which caused the photographer to start angrily yelling at you. You frowned intensely at him and gestured with your eyes. He stopped and turned to the side, immediately forming a fake smile and clasping his hands. "Oh! Mr. Agreste! What a very unexpected surprise. Welcome back to the building."

He stood at the edge of the stage with his hands behind his back looking very unimpressed. The company owner rolled his eyes in response and his eyes flickered over to Adalene. She was desperately trying to hide the catalog behind her back, having realized her mistake. He immediately stalked over to her with a look of fury on his face and you stood up partially in fear for her. She squealed and with a hefty toss, threw the book over to you. Catching it, your eyes widened and your face turned red once again. Gabriel was already in front of you, roughly snatching it from your hands.

You stared up at him in shock, a worried smile coming to your lips. He growled and looked through the pages, making sure everything was still there. "I apparently need to have a word with Francis about letting the models get a hold of the company paperwork."

The photographer laughed nervously and spoke up. "As you're here now Mr. Agreste, why don't you step into a few of the pictures? It has been a while... and for fans of the line..."

Gabriel held up his hand, indicating for him to stop talking. "You don't need to explain anything to me. You'll get one picture, and then I must be on my way back. I only came over here to get the book."

You leaned over and whispered to him, "Why isn't Nathalie here?"

Gabriel glanced down to you, "She is currently dealing with a lot of important work for the dance. I decided that was more important at the moment."

Looking back over to the photographer, you sighed. It was an obvious blanket lie. He knew that you would have seen the new plans, and that this whole interaction would make you uncomfortable. You had to give him credit though, he was an absolute master of manipulation. This wouldn't get him off the hook for an explanation later however.

You began to walk away from the set, giving them room to take the picture of Gabriel before he left, but he managed to catch your arm just before you got out of reach. Stopping, you turned to look at him in confusion. He shook his head, "Where do you think you are going? You are the one wearing the clothing line after all." Stepping forward, he adjusted the top so the sleeves hung off from the edge of the shoulders.

Taking control of the situation so everything was as he wanted it to be, he positioned himself with his back to you, arms crossed over his chest. You turned so your back faced his, the photographer coming over to help put you in a pose that would flatter the overall image. Gabriel whispered something to him, and he nodded, grabbing your head so that you were forced to look upwards at the ceiling, and tilting you back so your head rested between his shoulder blades. Your arms were drawn out to the side and back, so the long sleeves partially obscured Mr. Agreste's torso from view. One leg was drawn into a frontwards facing pirouette and you were instructed to close your eyes and open your mouth slightly. You followed every direction and remained in that pose until the picture was captured, although you did so begrudgingly.

With that over with, you saw Francis coming back into the room, a shocked expression on his face. Gabriel was already starting to leave, book in hand now. You heard a muttered exchange where doubtlessly the stylist was getting berated for letting the catalog get out of his hands. Francis scratched the back of his neck, a nervous smile on his face and words of apologies on his lips. Mr. Agreste then left in a huff and he walked over to you, laughing. "Oh boy, I didn't expect that he would actually be coming here himself. Usually it is just Nathalie."

You strolled off the set, getting ready for your next costume change. "Yeah, he says that she is held up with planning a certain event right now. Apparently he doesn't have enough secretaries to do his work."

Francis pushed aside Veronica and began to go through the clothing on the rack. "Well he needed to get out of that mansion at one time or another. It can't be healthy to be held up that much." He stopped what he was doing and smirked at you. "But a picture with him, I'm surprised. That's quite an honor right now."

Looking away, you sat down, noticing that Adalene had apparently fled while the designer was distracted with the photography. "With how much I have to deal with him back at the house, it really wasn't something I would call an 'honor'." You blushed again, remembering the reason that Gabriel had come here in the first place. "Are we really going to have to... present that next line?"

Francis pulled a floral dress from the rack and shoved it towards you with a knowing look. "Well, there is something you need to understand. This is a fashion business, and fashion covers many different areas. You are a model and are expected to take on each of those areas when presented to you. Dropping out now would pretty much be the end of your career." He kneeled in front of you and patted your knee. "Little bean, let me give you some advice. Instead of focusing on the sexual aspects of a person's body, think of it as showing off your natural beauty. Own it and you will be rocking that runway."

You blanched a little at the last statement. "R-runway? This isn't going to be a photo-shoot?"

He blinked a couple of times in bewilderment. "Oh darn, I wasn't meant to tell you that." Francis laughed to himself. "Oh well, it's out now. The big show in Paris that comes each January. Mr. Agreste designed this line to be showcased at that. He has generally done the most recent line that had already been released as you know." You nodded in response as you had walked that show each year since you had started at the company. The biggest names in fashion around the world were at that event and each got to present their brands there. "He has been trying to mix things up in order for his business to get more attention. Therefore, he decided to design an entire line to be seen for the first time there."  
Chapter 8: A Change in Pace

Collapsing back in the chair, you let all of what Francis had said sink in. Well, it will definitely be a new experience for you, and for your wanting fans. You let out a breath that you had been holding in; he had been right. You couldn't let your career end over something like this. Most models around the world had to face this moment, and right now, it was your turn.

The rest of the shoot went without incident, and you were able to meet Adrien back out front of the building before he had headed back to the house. You caught a ride with him, but kept your eyes on your phone's screen. There were a few responses from Alya and Marinette from what you had sent last night.

Marinette excitedly proclaimed, "Definitely will be there! What if Adrien gets to hang out some?"

You giggled. "Of course! I'll get him over )"

Alya chimed in next. "I'll be there too! Gotta have some major wing man action on this one."

It was finally fully scheduled and happening! You leaned back and stared out the window of the limo at the passing asphalt. Hopefully you could get your mind off of everything troubling you with these events.


	9. Chapter 9: Movie Night

It was the day! You flew out of the bathroom having just had a refreshing shower and hair-dry, immediately going into the closet to pick something out to wear for your guests. Mid-afternoon had already arrived, and Alya and Marinette should be coming in through the gates at any moment.

You threw on a black crop top and simple charcoal yoga pants with a dark blue brim. Your slippers would suffice for now, but to top the outfit off, you threw on a couple of dangle earrings to compliment the brooch still in your hair. Smiling at Duusu who was watching from the bed with excitement, you went over and poked her small belly. "I'm sorry you're going to have to be hiding for today."

She giggled and smacked at your finger. "It's fine! I'll be sure to go somewhere I still have a good enough view. Just because I'm hiding, doesn't mean I get to miss out." God you really admired her.

Grabbing your phone, you looked through the messages that announced both of your friends being on their way. Wanting to make sure Nathalie let them in, you dashed out the door to the main hall to see said assistant going to open the doors. She glanced up at the sound of your running. "I was about to go and get you. Your friends are here."

Ah, so that was how it worked. You nodded at her and she opened the doors, letting in both Alya and Marinette. They must have waited for each other to show up. Your face was absolutely beaming; this was so exciting! The two walked in sporting bags and pillows for their stay. They were looking around the hall in awe and you chuckled. Apparently they had never been in such a big house before.

Finally, you welcomed them here, your arms crossed over your midsection. "Thanks for being able to make it here guys. As much as this place is impressive, it can get quite lonely."

Alya shook her head with a grin and glomped her arms around your shoulders in a hug. "Don't sweat it, girl! We should be the ones thanking you for this."

Marinette followed her with a full on laugh. "Of course! I'm sure we'll have lots of fun here!" You glanced at her earrings that were a dull crimson and sighed, looking away to hug them back and wondering where her Kwami was hiding.

Breaking free of the group hug, you turned and gestured for the others to follow you up the stairs, hoping to get them situated before dinner was served. Upon opening the door to your room, Alya ran in and threw her bags on the couch, humbly looking around. "Ah man. I'm super jealous of the amount of space you get!"

Marinette had followed her in but had caught a glimpse of your closet and had already walked inside of it, gaping at everything you owned. "So many custom outfits from my favorite designers! Jealous!"

Snickering you walked up to the entrance of the closet and smiled at her. "You can feel free to try some of them on if you want to."

She squealed and jumped in excitement. "Oh my gosh I would looooove that! Thank you!"

"It's not a problem! I have way more clothes than I could ever need anyway." You omitted the part on how a lot of them were gifts from Gabriel's company on the modeling jobs you did along with your regular paycheck. "In fact, if there is something you want, feel free to have it."

She turned towards you, having already taken a particularly nice floral dress off of a hanger. "Oh no no! I have a lot of clothes too and I couldn't possibly just take your stuff, hehe." Marinette held the fabric up to the light. "My mother probably wouldn't be too keen on me bringing home more things anyways. I pretty much design all my own stuff."

Alya popped up beside you and clasped you on the shoulder. "She's totally right and totally awesome. Everything she wears is stuff she has made herself. Couldn't even tell if she had just bought it from the store!"

Marinette looked partially insulted but laughed instead, taking the dress over to the bathroom to change. Alya didn't seem too interested in the clothes but was looking around where your TV and speakers were. "I brought some movies along just in case. Darn girl, you got some great surround sound set up in here!"

"Thanks! I've got connections to it by the bed for my phone and for the TV so the speakers can play from either source."

She giggled and started to dig through her bags. "Nino would probably kill for something like that in his room."

Nino... that sounded familiar. "Oh yeah, that's Adrien's best friend isn't it?"

Marinette came out of the bathroom at that moment, sporting the dress. "Yeah! Though he's our friend too. We really are all one big group of friends in our grade... except for Chloe of course." The girl pouted. "She claims to be best friends with you, but you've already been so nice to us I didn't take her word for it."

You shook your head. "I've had my fair share of run-ins with the mayor's daughter myself. It's... a nightmare." Clapping your hands together, you then moved your finger in a circle so that she would do a spin. "That dress looks super amazing on you Mari! Better than on me anyhow!"

She flushed. "Stop it! You're the model here anyways. Isn't everything supposed to look good on you?"

"Not if it's a marshmallow dress."

The three of you laughed, discussing the ridiculousness of certain other fashion designers that took things too far. Glancing over at the clock, you jumped in excitement. "Time for dinner guys! My mother is a fantastic chef." You chose your words wisely as Alya's mother was also a cook over at the mayor's hotel.

You lead them through the house, knowing the layout very well by now, and into the dining room where Adrien already sat by the food. He stood politely, seeing them enter, and froze in shock, glancing to you in confusion upon noticing the others. Marinette also froze, but Alya pushed her into the chair at the head of the table, between you and Adrien. She giggled in nervousness but sat as stiff as a board.

Rolling your eyes, you pushed a bowl of salad towards her while Alya sat on your other side. "Come on, guests serve themselves first!"

Marinette's eyes widened, but her arms managed to move and start serving herself some of the salad before passing it over to Alya. Adrien chuckled to himself and you wondered how on earth that boy couldn't realize that Mari was crazy about him.

Eventually, everyone was served and the others began talking about class and homework. You stayed respectfully silent and listened to the conversation, having no place in it. Adrien noticed and apologized but you waved it off, letting them know you didn't mind it. Their discussions were interesting and amusing; it was honestly enough for you just to know that they were your friends.

Your phone buzzed in your lap and you turned on the screen with worry. Was there really something he could be wanting right at this moment? Fortunately the message was a secretive one from Marinette who could not say it aloud with Adrien in the room.

'Are we going to invite him to watch a movie or...?'

You smiled and sent a quick response.

'Patience is a virtue! All in good time ;)'

She pouted at you from her seat and you forced yourself not to laugh as you finished off the rest of what was on your plate. Everyone gathered the plates together at the end of the table and you three girls took off in a gossiping, giggly bubble back to your room as Adrien stayed behind, rather bemused.

You swung open your door with great force, your excitement getting the best of you. The door hit the wall with enough force to create a bit of a bang, but not enough to dent the wall. "Time for pajamas!"

Grabbing yours from the drawer in the table at the side of the bed, you changed into the silk nightgown that had lace around the edges, not taking much of a care of there being other girls in the room. It was something you had become rather numb to, your job being what it was. Marinette and Alya didn't seem to mind, and changed as well. Mari had on a very adorable set with pink polka' dot pants and a floral shirt to match. Alya wore plain red, with a little ladybug on the shirt.

She snickered and showed it off proudly. "I found this gem at a nearby strip mall! I couldn't believe they had it! Suits me doesn't it?"

You nodded, remembering her blog and Mari piped up, "Naturally Alya! We all know that no one else is more obsessed with Ladybug than you are." She then threw a little pillow at her that she caught with another chuckle.

"I don't know if I should be honored by that sentiment or insulted. So I'll go with honored because it's really true!" She hefted a bigger pillow off of the couch and tossed it towards Marinette who was fleeing playfully.

Pitching in, you took one from your bed and gently hit Alya in the back. She turned, grinning, and caught you in the stomach with another she had grabbed up. Soon, the three of you were running around the room, screaming and laughing while throwing and hitting the pillows at each other, losing track of what you were going to be doing.

A flicker of movement from the entrance-way of your room caught your attention and you paused, the pillow still in hand while you stood on top of the bed. Upon seeing you stop and look up, Mari and Alya both ceased as well and turned. Mr. Agreste stood there, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He didn't appear to be any angrier than usual, but he didn't look happy.

"I could hear this commotion from all the way down the hall." He glared at you. "You didn't inform me that you would be having guests."

With a sigh, you hopped off the bed, throwing the pillow back towards where it was when you picked it up initially. "Well to be fair you didn't inform me that I needed to inform you."

His frown deepened but he dropped his arms to the side, one resting in his pocket. Gabriel turned, keeping his eyes on you. "Anyways, I came to take you for one last fitting."

Great, so you did have work to do tonight. Groaning, you turned back towards the girls and gave a 'well what can one do?' shrug. "You can start deciding on a movie and mess around with whatever you would like to in here until I come back. I shouldn't be too long." You hoped.

They both gave you knowing smiles and you went to follow Mr. Agreste back out of the room, stumbling for your slippers so you weren't forced to walk barefoot across the freezing tile. He led you back to his office where, once again, all the dresses were lined up on the mannequins with the now completed masks hanging from their necks. He continued on towards his desk but he gestured to the dresses. "Try them all on, masks and shoes included this time."

You rolled your eyes behind his back and walked over to the first in line which was playing off the colors of a summertime yellow along with all the beading and detailing. You hadn't noticed them before, but shoes made to match the outfits were lined across under the skirts on the floor. They were toned down, but had colored accents with the ribbons that would tie around the ankles. Slight heels would make you rise a couple inches off the ground, but it wasn't anything you couldn't handle dancing in. As much as Gabriel irked you, his work truly was beautiful and thoughtful.

Taking it off of the dummy, you whisked behind the changing screen and began to wiggle into the dress, actually feeling a bit excited to be able to try on the final product at last. Unexpectedly, you heard Mr. Agreste ask a question. "What is it exactly that you and those other two are doing? It's rather late for them to still be out."

Sighing, you finished zipping up the dress and stepped out, the skit and lace bobbing around your legs as you approached him. "It's called spending the night. They're sleeping over so we can spend more time together and have fun, like normal people."

He raised an eyebrow and stepped towards you, grabbing at the side of the dress to make sure the fit wasn't loose. "Nothing I have heard of..."

You tried your best not to laugh. "You haven't heard of slumber parties? They aren't truly restricted to girls, but I feel a little bit bad."

Gabriel cleared his throat and you reworded what you said. "Well, I don't mean girls and guys spend the night together in the same room and everything, I meant guys can have guy sleepovers and girls have girls over..." You blushed and went silent a moment. "You get the picture..."

He finally stepped back and looked you over, scratching his chin. "Of course... anyways, next." Mr. Agreste leaned over and you watched him write down some things in a notebook spread open on his desk.

You spun on a heel and went over to the next dress in line, following his every word to try and get this over with quickly so your guests wouldn't get bored. On occasion, he would have you turn and perform a dance move to see how they moved with you and fit under stress. At other times, he came over and prodded at them or pulled on them. An hour had passed before you finally were standing in the middle of the room with the last, black dress on.

Mr. Agreste smirked and nodded, closing his notebook. "Yes, so the first three dances, you will show off three of the upcoming dresses. We don't want to reveal too much yet." He thought for a moment. "You will do the white, blue-green, and black sets for the dance. The last dress will be the one you will wear for the remainder of the evening."

You sighed and smoothed out the skirt. "Can I even bring a date for this?"

He paused in putting the book back into a drawer in the desk and looked up at you, frowning a moment before shaking his head. "I do not believe you would have the time to entertain a date when there will be sponsors, reporters, and other designers here wanting to get a closer look at the line you will be wearing. I'll have to say no to that."

With a groan, you went back to the screen to change into your pajamas. "Great, entertaining the old geezers. This sounds so exciting."

"This is not a fun recreational dance, this is a part of your job. Do as I say."

You stepped out, holding the last set to put back onto the mannequin. "Don't get so hot-headed. I was only teasing." Walking back to the door of the office, you paused and looked back at Gabriel whom was just standing behind his desk. Gripping the wood, you turned your head away from him and closed the door with a thud.

Walking back into your room, Alya and Marinette greeted you with excited yells and waving a copy of 'The Phantom of the Opera' around. You gave them a few details of what you had to do without spilling secret information about the new line. Alya playfully pushed your arm with her elbow and giggled. "So Marinette, as we both know, is in total love with Adrien. But we gotta know, is there anyone that you are interested in? Maybe even Mr. Agreste?!"

You stepped away from her and waved your hands around frantically, red flowing to your cheeks. "Absolutely not! He is still mourning his wife being missing and he's my boss! That's no fair Alya!"

Marinette stepped forward and poked at you. "Well then, is there anyone? We can't let that be your only answer!"

You pouted and turned, closing your eyes and crossing your arms. "As a matter of fact there is no one, and it's none of your business anyways. You did want me to get Adrien in here yeah?"

The poor girl collapsed at your feet in near-tears and begged forgiveness and she would do anything for you to help her out. Laughing, you reached down and ruffled her hair. "Of course I will go get him. I'm just pulling your leg."

Stepping across the hall, you knocked on Adrien's door and he answered, looking a little tired from having nothing to do and already changed into his own winter pajamas. "Oh, what is it? Is there something you need to borrow?"

Laughing, you grabbed his arm and pulled him out into the hallway. He gave a startled yelp and you were grateful the Gorilla wasn't around at the moment. "You're watching movies with us! This is non-negotiable. Boredom is not allowed while the three of us are here." You glanced back and were pleased to see his shocked expression turn into one of gratitude and excitement. This was definitely something that he had never managed to experience in this house before.

Pulling him in the room and closing the door, you pushed him towards the couch where you saw Marinette had sat down. Alya had already gotten the movie into the TV and was sitting in the only chair. Turning off the lights, you sat in the middle of the edge of your bed, forcing Adrien to sit next to Mari, which he didn't seem to mind. You smiled at the two of them, noticing the girl was more interested with staring at him then watching the movie. Fortunately, he didn't seem to mind it.

About half-way through the film, the door to your room opened and light from the hallway flooded into the bedroom. You flinched and partially expected for it to be the bodyguard having found Adrien at last. However, as all of you turned towards the door, you saw Mr. Agreste standing there, slowly closing the door behind him. He walked over to you as Adrien sat there in practical shock, an extremely happy smile coming to his mouth. His father was finally here, participating in something that he was.

Feeling a bit panicked as to what Gabriel wanted, you scooted away from him as a reaction. He apparently took this as you making room, and he sat next to you, about a foot away on the bed. Your pupils swung over to the couch to see Adrien had turned back to continue watching the movie, and with the two highschoolers already on the couch, there was no room for anyone else to be sitting over there. This was just perfect.

You sat there, staring at him, unsure of what he was doing here. Forcing yourself, you turned away from him and watched the movie, trying once again to just ignore him. After a moment, you heard something being whispered at you. "What even is this?"

Clearing your throat, you answered. "Phantom of the Opera. At least we aren't spending this time being uncultured as you might have worried."

He sighed and yawned. "This doesn't seem like the story at all..."

So he was here to... watch the movie with you guys? Was he trying to spend time with his son, or annoy you to pieces? You swallowed and tried to relax, which was hard to do with him sitting so close. Why were you even allowing him to get to you like this? Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes and re-opened them. Surely he would leave soon anyways.

The first movie ended, and Alya was quick to put in the next, an old film called Breathless. As the long movie went on, you began to relax, pretty much forgetting that your boss was sitting right there next to you.

Out of the blue, you felt a heavy pressure on your shoulder and something warm and soft on your neck. Startled, stiffening up, and leaning away from it, you glanced down to see that Gabriel had fallen asleep at some point and his head had slumped over onto your shoulder. You gasped and felt terrified to even move. Should you remove him and lay him down, risking waking him up? Should you just leave him be despite the uncomfortableness of the situation? Both options seemed just as terrible. Fortunately, none of the others had seemed to notice what you were currently dealing with. What if Adrien saw? Oh please no.

His warm breath flowed over your shoulder as he dozed, his closed eyes and rising chest making him seem to be in a peace that you had never seen in him before. Your cheeks flushed and you turned back to the movie, deciding on still trying to ignore him and not wake him. What on earth had made him so exhausted anyways?

However, nearing the end of the second movie, you felt your own eyes begin to flutter shut. You hadn't been getting very decent sleep from your school schedule, your violin practice, and Gabriel's various activities he forced you to be involved with. In this moment of drowsiness, all you could process was that the warmth was so very comforting. Your head drifted to the side, the voice of Jean-Paul Belmondo ringing in your ears and an odd softness under your cheek.

Not too sure of how much time passed, there was a blinding burn coming from the other side of your eyelids and you jolted upright, eyes wide open. Turning, you saw Gabriel just as startled next to you and beyond him, Alya at the light switch yawning up a storm. "Man we watched like ten movies, I think it's time to call it quits for the night." Ten movies? You only remembered two! Looking over at the clock, it was nearing three in the morning. Great, so you had dozed off as well.

Mr. Agreste seemed to ignore you and rose from the bed the same time that Adrien got up from the couch. The two walked towards the door and chatted a bit awkwardly, heading out into the hallway while Alya closed the door firmly behind them. Marinette was collapsed on the arm of the sofa, a dreamy smile across her face. She was completely inebriated from an entire evening of watching movies next to Adrien. You chuckled and rose, your nap having given you quite a bit of spare energy.

Stretching yourself out pleasantly, you looked down into the face of... Alya, a smug smirk on her lips. You stepped back and cocked your head in confusion, "What?"

She laughed and shrugged, walking past you. "So... there is still 'no one' you are interested in huh?"

You looked after her, redness spreading across your cheeks once again. "What do you mean? Of course that's still the case."

Alya flopped down onto her sleeping bag spread out in front of the TV. "I don't know... but it really seemed like you were getting real cozy with Mr. Agreste over there."

Air seemed to leave your area and you could not breathe. Crap. So she had seen it. "We both just fell asleep is all! There is nothing else, truly! The only relationship is a business one." Clasping your hands you bit your lip and glanced down. "Adrien didn't see did he? I don't want him getting the wrong idea about myself and his father."

She shook her head and you breathed a sigh of relief. "He was more interested in chatting about movies with Mari, although a lot of her responses made no sense!" Laughing, she chucked a pillow at the back of said girls' head, making her complain out loud.

"I'm trying to get used to talking to him! Honestly..."

Alya shook her head and laid down. "Girl, girl, girl. You have got to loosen that tongue of yours. He's just a guy! And a nice one at that!"

You walked over to the light switch as you saw Marinette lie down as well. "As you guys saw, I got a bit of a nap. I'm going to try and get something hot to drink but go ahead and go to sleep. I'll be right back and will settle down myself. Night!" Flicking it off, you stepped outside the door, closing it gently behind you.

Turning to go down the hall, you spotted Mr. Agreste standing further down. Fortunately, he was not in the direction you wanted to head. You paused for just a moment, practically feeling the burn of his eyes on your neck, but then continued on your way towards the kitchen. There had already been enough awkward interactions for the one night. For now, you just wanted to focus on getting that hot cup of tea.


	10. Chapter 10: The Dangerous Dance

Standing in front of the mirror in your bathroom, you stared into your own eyes, not too sure what it was you were going to do. Today was the day, but you weren't excited so much about it as you were worried. You smacked your cheek slightly and adjusted your black and blue sports bra. It was still the early afternoon, but Nino and Marinette were going to be here soon to set up for the dance and make sure all the equipment was working. You had just managed to break away from Adrien after lunch to change. For the brief time you had, you wanted to be able to warm up and get ready for your performance this evening.

There was a knock at the door, making you turn your head towards the sound. Sighing, you walked over to open it, pulling up on the blue brim of your pants. Was that Adrien already? Opening the door, you were face to face with Nathalie who, as usual, didn't really have any sort of expression on her face. "The DJ and Adrien's date are here, just letting you know. I directed them to the ballroom already, I will get Adrien as well."

Nodding to her, she walked off down the hall and you stepped out, deciding to go ahead and meet the guests. You hadn't seen Marinette since you had waved her off after the sleepover earlier in the month. Well, technically you had seen her as Ladybug when out fighting for Hawk Moth, but you weren't really going to count that. It wasn't really the quality friendship building time that you actually wanted to spend with her.

Strolling into the ballroom, you saw that Nino had already went over to the panel at the back of the room by the stage and was messing with the wires. Several bags and cases were put haphazardly around him on the floor, apparently containing his DJing equipment. Marinette was looking in awe at the stage, not sure of what to do otherwise. Both were still in their casual clothing as the party was still quite a few hours off.

You grinned and lifted your hands into the air, continuing your walk towards them. "Hello my dudes! Awesome you could come early! Best that our DJ knows what he has to work with and practice before-hand."

Nino looked up and smiled at you. "Oh hey... you're that one model? Right? I'm a big fan of your work! I just wanted to make sure I was pronouncing your name right." He scratched the back of his neck behind his headphones. "I think I'm getting the hang of this set up, but if you could stick around that would be super helpful."

Finally reaching the platform you shook your head. "No worries, I was wanting to just hang out anyways."

With a bigger smile, he nodded. "Alright! Coolio." Then he went back to looking through the wires and unpacking his things.

You shuffled up to Marinette and playfully bumped into her side, catching her off guard. "Sooooo, ready to dance with Adrien today?"

Her face visibly blanched and her arms went wildly about her face. "No! What if I fall?! What if I fall into HIM and I make him break his legs?! What if I stomp on his toes!? What... what... what..."

You grabbed her shoulders and made her stand still. "Whoa hold up, take a few deep breaths. Adrien is the sweetest guy and he will treat you like a lady, or I swear he has something coming to him." She still looked a little worried, but she calmed. You smirked at her. "It's his job to guide you in the dances anyways, trust him, and neither of you should have any instances."

With a nod you let her go and turned towards the two-foot stage, leaping with ease up onto it. You began to stretch yourself out, warming up your muscles and joints for dancing. Even though it was still so early, there was no harm in getting loosened up now. As you did so, there was a 'hey' from the doorway of the room, and you glanced over to see Adrien walking over towards the group. Mari waved shyly just as all of the lights in the room went out.

There was a resounding gasp between all present, but soon enough the lights were back on and Nino was laughing, readjusting his table on the stand. "Haha, sorry dudes, my bad."

Shaking your head, but amused by the situation, you continued your stretches. Nino continued to mess with a few things, dimming the lights and turning on some colored ones towards the stage and in the center of the room. Marinette and Adrien conversed awkwardly while there was really nothing else to do.

After a few moments, loud pop music began to blare through the speakers around the room. Nino adjusted a few things until the sound was just loud enough to reverberate through the area but if two people stood next to each other and talked, they could be heard. Nodding to the beat, you began to freestyle to the music. You implemented some pops and locks, isolated actions, fierce steps, twirls, and hand gestures to go along with the song. Nino let the song play through as you continued to move with it, feeling your body become more at ease with the movements the more that you completed.

The song ended and you finished with a powerful stomp and head whip, taking a moment to catch your breath before turning to the others. Nino had a look of shock on his face but then he broke into a wide grin and began clapping. Marinette and Adrien followed suit, breaking out into cheers. The former spoke up, "You definitely got it girl! Hey I got an idea..."

He pulled out a wireless headset and waved it up at you. You stepped over, blushing, and took it from him, not exactly sure what he wanted. "Could you please test that mic out for me by performing something for us? Ya know, for good luck tonight?"

You snickered and put the headset with the mic on. "Fine, but only because you guys are my close friends." What was with people just wanting to watch you sing? You didn't feel you were as good in that particular area, the violin was really more your style. Nino started up a beat to a familiar song and you smiled, bursting out the words when the time was right.

Dancing with the lyrics, you put on a full show for the eagerly listening people before you. A quarter into the song, you spotted a figure standing by the doorway of the ballroom. Smirking slightly to yourself, you continued the song to completion, intent on irritating said figure. The final notes hit and you posed, winking and putting peace signs up by your eyes. With a laugh you bowed to your friends who were applauding and whistling and took off the headset to hand back to Nino, noticing Mr. Agreste finally walking across the floor to the small group.

He had a deep frown on his face, deeper than the usual, and his pace was brisk. Gabriel finally reached the stage and he glared at Nino behind the DJ set-up who looked like he was about to start shaking from nervousness. His deep-blue eyes flicked to you and narrowed. "So the DJ is another teenager... I'm going to need to have some words with Nathalie about this, and..." he looked back at Nino, raising an eyebrow, "the music playing has not been what I require for the venue."

Nino wrung his hands together, sweat beading on his brow. "Uh, no du... I mean sir! I-I'm just testing out the equipment. Making sure that I can get everything to work du... sir!" He laughed nervously and closed his eyes. "I do understand that you want swing music for the event sir."

Adrien walked up to his father and stood up for his friend. "It's going to be okay father. I suggested him to Nathalie. He really is the best in Paris. How many events have you done now, Nino?"

Gabriel glanced down at Adrien while Nino cleared his throat. "Um... I believe it has been around fifty now sir, some of them also hosted by prestigious gentlemen... s-sir!"

Adrien smiled and nodded. "I'm sure you will have nothing to worry about for tonight."

If it was even possible, Gabriel frowned deeper and crossed his arms. You strolled across the stage and leaped off the side, landing next to Nino. You grabbed his shoulder comfortingly and set the headset on the stand next to his own equipment. He looked at you worryingly and you chuckled, whispering to him. "Don't worry. Mr. Agreste can be big and mean, but manipulation and convincing can indeed be used on him." You glanced at Gabriel for a moment in thought. "Hmm, I'd like to request..." Turning, you cupped your hands by his ear and told him some music to play. Nervously, Nino nodded and went to his table, putting on the song you suggested.

Mr. Agreste glared over at the table, knowing that this was your doing. You walked out onto the floor, glaring back at him. When you passed him you spoke up, "The party isn't until later, and I'm trying to stretch myself out in the meantime."

You began to dance once again, keeping time with the music. He continued to talk at you anyways. "Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"Francis hasn't arrived yet."

There was a growl and a small thud as the man leaned exasperatingly against the stage. What a drama queen. You smirked and heard heavy footsteps running towards the stage area. Opening an eye, you saw Alya absolutely beaming ear to ear as she walked up to Nino. He smiled back at her and you realized she must have been his complimentary plus one.

Gabriel looked over the small group and rolled his eyes. This was probably too many young people for him to be handling at once. Alya came over and started following your steps, having dropped her bag in the front. Mr. Agreste began to leave the room with a sigh, muttering, "Already more teenagers than I'd like to have at this event." At this point however, there wasn't anything he could do about it, and you chortled to yourself.

The group of you goofed off for the longest time, not paying attention to any clock. Suddenly at the entrance of the room, there was a sharp clap and Francis came strutting in, shielding his face with sunglasses and rolling god knows how many bags behind him on a small trolley. "Alrighty everyone, if you are not an employee for this, it is time for you all to clear out and get ready!"

Alya and Marinette ran out laughing, doubtlessly to your room to change and put on make-up while Adrien strolled out a bit more slowly, giving you a supportive nod on his way past. Nino remained messing with his set up and Francis came up to you, looking over at the stage with a thoughtful smirk on his lips. "I desperately hope that poor lad puts on something so much sexier before the dance starts. The blue shirt and jeans just clash with the style of this shindig."

You chuckled into your hand while Nino glared over at the stylist angrily. "Yo dude that's not cool. Of course I'm going to change, I'm not an animal."

The blonde man grinned and burst into laughter. "Naturally hun. I hope it's a suit." He leaned over and whispered, "So where are we meant to go or did Gabe not say anything to you?"

Shrugging you looked over to where he had been staring since he walked in. "We can set up behind the black curtains. I don't believe that we will be using the actual stage for much of anything tonight."

Immediately he began to head over with his trolley of equipment. "Ah that's really great! I was hoping he wasn't going to have us running all over this manor just to get you looking fabulous."

Shaking your head, you followed him to the blocked off back-stage area just as you noticed your mother entering the room to set up her catering and bar. Well, this was going to fully preoccupy your time for the next two hours. Francis set up his things on several mini tables and plopped open a traveling chair for you to sit in while he worked his magic. The two of you casually discussed the evening ahead while he put on some color-neutral make-up that would work with each of the dresses you were to wear. Smoky eyes and black fingernails with small diamond-like gems frosting them. He moved the brooch in your hair, which you allowed, so that he could use it to pin up the slight curls in a loose pony-tail.

He left your side for a moment to open up a large black trunk which revealed where he had been hiding the outfits. "Hair done, nails done, make-up done... I think it's time to complete your look m'lady." You smiled and snatched the top dress, which was the white one. Francis helped you wiggle your way into it without destroying his hard work; practice for later when you were meant to change.

As you worked behind the stage, more and more noise started to come from the main floor. The guests were beginning to arrive. Francis bit his lip and looked out from the curtains. "Oh my... now we need to try and find a way to get you back to the hallway without being seen. You're meant to make your appearance with Gabriel from there..."

You slid the mask down over the bridge of your nose, feeling Duusu wiggling uncomfortably in your hair. Your eyes flicked across the room, judging how many were there and how preoccupied they were. "I think if you cover my head with a veil, and I walk to your right, we can make it to the door without being spotted."

Francis cocked his head and sighed. "Good eye, I think that is the only chance that we have." He shuffled over to his bags and effortlessly found a piece of black cloth that would do the trick. He draped it over the top of your body and locked arms with you, guiding you forwards and out onto the ballroom floor. Your heels clacked painfully loud against the hard wood, but no one stopped either of you as suddenly Francis was pulling the veil from you in the dining area.

He gave you a nod and began to leave the room, pausing in the doorway to give you a final smile. "Gabriel will be here shortly, little-bean. Best of luck, I know you will do well." With that, the door closed with a small thud. You were alone, and the dark room and emptiness made you feel more nervous than the man you were about to be dancing with. To try and calm down, and rest your ankles, you sat in one of the chairs.

Waiting for who knows how long, one of the doors finally creaked open and Gabriel stood patiently waiting for you to join him. He wore a sharp black tuxedo with a charcoal tie, a matching plain masquerade mask obscuring half of his face, and a little handkerchief tucked into his breast pocket which was a complimentary white to the dress you were currently wearing. Holding out his elbow, you stood and carefully took it, letting him lead you towards the ballroom.

He said nothing until the two of you stood in front of the massive double doors, now closed to dramatically reveal the dancing couple. You heard him growl under his breath, "I hope you knew what you were talking about when you said we shouldn't practice for this."

Was he actually nervous? The corners of your lips twitched in amusement and you gave his arm a slight squeeze, a brazen move. "I do know. I'm in the business, or don't you remember?"

"Just remember to remain professional." You could tell he was glaring down at you when the doors finally began to open inwards, showing the starring pair to the overly full ballroom. The pathway to the center of the floor remained clear, and so he began to pull you towards it as the fancily-dressed crowd cheered and applauded. Passing a few you could hear some wondering who these mysterious performers were, and you restrained yourself from a sigh. Were Parisians really this vapid around masks? How were they even recognizing each other at this masquerade?

There was a wide open area that stayed open for the dance, and so Gabriel took you to the center of it, turning you to face him. The lights dimmed and he grasped your waist and hand, freeing you to barely touch his shoulder with your free one. Nino was right on cue, and the first song began, lively and loud. Gabriel began the steps to the swing this time, and you kept pace with him, allowing him to spin and toss you back and forth freely. On occasion each of you did something that was different from the other, and soon you broke free, swinging your skirts by hand and stomping on the hard wood. Your boss remained behind you following your movements with an odd grace. Eventually, he managed to catch you back into his grasp. Fortunately his hands remained bone dry; no worrisome sweat making things slippery. The song was beginning to wind down and so you spun around and posed with one hand in the air and the other on your hip right as the last note hit. Gabriel had paused with his fingers partially obscuring his face. The crowd once again broke out into applause, clearly enjoying the show you two were providing.

You ran quickly back behind the curtains and began to wiggle out of the white dress with Francis helping get the blue and green one ready. Running back out, this time with some peacock feathers in your hair, Gabriel was already waiting in the same place, his hand held out to you and his handkerchief switched to a bluish green one. The moment your fingers touched, the next song was already blaring forth. This one had no singing and was purely jazz. He seemed more at ease with this one, the rocking movements coming more naturally than before. Maybe he was just now getting used to this. The song began to slow and took on a different intense beat. Suddenly, you were spun around and pressed back against him as the swing steps continued, his hand still on your waist and the other grasping yours up next to your faces. You could feel his breath on the side of your neck and you tried not to focus too much on this sudden intimacy. This was just business. That moment finally ended and you were twirled around, feeling greatful for it. The song headed towards its close, and you were tipped backwards onto one foot, his hand in the center of your back and the other leg forming a long line towards the corner. More clapping came from the audience and you spotted Adrien and Marinette nearby, looking utterly facinated. Gabriel helped you back onto your feet and once again you took off, only just seeing him remove the hankerchief from his pocket and reveal a black one from somewhere hidden, fluttering it towards the onlookers while they started whooping more feverently at the hint provided to them.

Francis once again assisted you in putting on the final corseted dress, handing you an extra accessory with a smile. "For a little more... flare." Shaking your head, you took the matching laced garter and slipped it onto your thigh, hoping that it wouldn't anger Gabriel too much. Heading out for the final closed dance, Mr. Agreste stood waiting in the same pose as before, now with that black handkerchief folded into his pocket. Nino kept his timing perfectly, the next song starting just as your hands met again. The beat was quick and the singing sweet. The two of you fell into a now very familiar rhythm once more, playing off of each other's movements. Much to your embarrassment, the song was of the romantic sort, but you just attempted to ignore it. For a brief moment, the music slowed heavily and you grasped his shoulder to lean back slightly, hooking an ankle on his calf to further support yourself. He attempted to hold you up by keeping a firm grasp on your back and sliding a hand behind your knee. His hand slipped and brushed against the garter, causing a very uncomfortable situation. With your face turning an extremely bright red, you spun away from him right as the music picked up its pace. Gabriel took to copying your steps and you didn't even gauge any sort of reaction from him. Letting out a sigh, you allowed for him to take you back for the rest of the song, with more twirls and fancy footwork.

The third song came to an end, and the two of you turned towards one side of the room to give a bow and curtsy respectively. Looking at one another for a moment, you gave him a slight nod before removing your mask, revealing to the audience whom you were. You gave a spin and a renewed cheering began, most now just realizing your identity. Mr. Agreste looked extremely unenthused, but he followed suit, giving a small turn as well. The crowd reacted much much differently, some people screaming in delight and many letting out a shocked "oh my goodness". Putting your own mask back on, you noticed Adrien had his jaw practically on the floor. Clearly he didn't believe that his father would actually dance for this event. In all honestly, you hadn't expected any of this at first either. Gabriel put his mask back on and gave you a slight bow before heading over to a cluster of reporters near the doors. Many couples began to flood out onto the floor to dance now that it was open, and some people began to head over to you to ask you a few questions themselves. Acting on your best behavior, you heard them out and responded to each.

A few started to ask you for dances, and you were grateful to accept. It was refreshing to mingle in a crowd and have the attention of some men. A pudgy rich fellow happy to just chat to some of the younger women but clumsy on his feet, an older gentleman with sharp features and silver hair drawn back into a tight pony-tail, along with a few others. All were very gentlemanly and interested in knowing you. Seemingly out of nowhere, you began to flirt with a few of them, mostly just teasingly. Some began to bring you drinks from the bar, and you took a few of them with gratitude. Gabriel Agreste was completely out of sight and you began to relax, falling seamlessly in with the new crowd of guys around you.

At some point, you were perched on a bar stool sipping at a shot of vodka while a few guys told jokes and chortled at each other. The evening was becoming a bit of a bore, but then a man approached you out of the crowd. You hadn't seen him around before, but his appearance caught your eye. His skin was extremely pale and he had long black hair that fell slightly into his face and across his mask. He looked right up into your face as he got near, green eyes piercing yours. This man, whomever he was, was absolutely gorgeous. Your breath was held in as he acted in a forward manner, grasping your hand in his white gloved one, tilting his head, and asking with an accent, "May I have this dance?"

Breathlessly, you nodded and allowed for him to drag you off of the stool and back out into the crowd. You passed the still dancing Adrien and Marinette to head right into the middle of the floor, some stopping to watch the two of you. When you reached the opportune spot, he stopped and turned towards you, gripping your left hand tightly and slipping his free one to around your back, pulling you in close. His breath smelled of mint as it washed across your face and you felt as light as air. You aimed to impress this man with your skill.

The song began and you started to sway. He leaned in close and stomped on the floor right next to where your own feet were. Bold. You smiled and kicked a leg out in the opposite direction. Swiftly he caught it and used your own motion to twirl you around, sliding his hand up your leg to cause you to lean back into him. Surprisingly, you didn't mind this man touching you so brazenly. The beat picked up and you were freed to do your own movements as he trailed behind you across the floor but came up with his own steps, causing an interesting clash of dancing that still complimented each other in a way. The man caught you once again around the waist and lifted you up in the air to leap over his head. Laughing, you enjoyed the sudden 80s dance move. The violently bold gesture continued, past this song and into the next, and into the next. The third dance finally ended with an extremely deep dip, your back almost folded in half across his knee and your hair brushing the floor.

He helped you back up and you started panting to catch your breath. "Thank you for the amazing dance, sir. However, I really need to go drink something." The man nodded to you with a smile and headed off to one of the corners. Wow. You were going to need to learn his name at some point.

Turning, you started to head to the bar, only noticing Gabriel standing behind you with his arms crossed and an furious expression on his face. Rolling your eyes, you pushed past him to get to your drink. He followed you however and grasped your upper arm just as you managed to snatch up another vodka. Mr. Agreste leaned in and growled into your ear, "Come with me. We need to have a talk."

Pouting to yourself, he started pulling you towards the hallway. The main entrance hall was scattered with some of the guests, so he dragged you into a side hallway where it was a bit more quiet and private. You leaned against the wall and swirled your drink, just waiting for him to get whatever it was out of his system. He crossed his arms again and glared down at you. "What do you think you are doing in there?"

You sighed. "I don't know, conversing with interested party members, answering any questions I can about the line, accepting dances from the guests."

Mr. Agreste raised an eyebrow. "You are also flirting with the guests."

"Oh... so is that something I'm not allowed to do too?"

He snarled a bit. "You are behaving unprofessionally. It has a bad outlook on my company."

This time you growled a bit back at him. "Unprofessionally? This is a party! Yes it is a business party but everybody flirts... at least everyone who is normal. I was left to handle everything on my own and wasn't even allowed to have a date! You told me I wouldn't have time for such but you go running off to deal with who knows what and I've been getting bored out of my mind." You took a sip of the vodka, enjoying the burn.

He hovered in slightly, gritting his teeth. "If you are so bored then maybe you should head back to your room."

"It's not so boring when I have someone to dance with or talk to."

Gabriel was silent for a moment before speaking up again. "You can dance, you can talk, but don't flirt."

Something snapped and you leaned forward from the wall, yelling up at him. "You're not my father! You cannot control my dating life too! You are acting like a jealous freak!"

His hand slammed against the wall right next to your head and he was inches away yelling right on back. "Don't forget your place here in this house! Do what I say or I will do what I have to!"

You felt like you were about to cry but you held it back, staying absolutely silent now. He withdrew his hand and you downed the rest of the vodka, a slight buzz finally hitting the back of your head. Without another word, you walked away from him back towards the ballroom, feeling his eyes burn into your back. He wasn't going to get to you again. You had promised yourself this.

Entering the room, the same mysterious man was there waiting for you. Sitting down the empty shot glass, you let him take your arm and lead you into another dance. This time however, you had no giddy smile across your face. The song ended and Gabriel was unexpectedly next to you, offering his hand for a dance. What was he doing? He shot a glare at the younger man and stole you into the next song.

The way he began to aggressively dance confused you greatly. It was almost as if Mr. Agreste was challenging the other guy. However, he still stood to the side with a smirk, shaking his head as he watched the two of you. Gabriel still managed to keep pace, but he was more limited in what he could do comparatively. The music faded into a different tune and the nameless man came back over to take you back. He seemed to cherish in the fact that he could do more in the terms of lifting you and touching you. Gabriel loomed, frowning, to the side but didn't give up when it came time for the next dance. This time he did more to pick you up and swing you to his sides, surprising you that he had the strength to do so. The other man did not give up and grabbed your hand firmly to take you back into his arms. That song ended and he lifted you above his head by the waist, making sure you stayed parallel to the ground.

Mr. Agreste came back over but you held up your hand, pinching the bridge of your nose. "Please, I need a break. I feel dizzy." The alcohol you had been drinking probably did not help with that fact. In fact, it was probably time you headed to bed anyways. It was already the following morning but the masquerade continued on, only a few guests having left.

Deciding it was pointless to ask the man's name, as per the new rules against relationships, you headed out the double doors, shuffling tiredly in the direction of your bedroom. A little ways down the hall, you heard footsteps running up behind you, causing you to stop and turn to see the black-haired stranger catching up, that grin still on his face. He halted a mere few inches from you and spoke again in that accent, "After all that dancing, I couldn't just let you go for the night without saying a proper farewell."

His gloved fingers caressed your hand and brought it up to his soft lips, pressing them down in a kiss. You blushed and withdrew from him, not wanting to let him get the wrong idea. He raised an eyebrow and spoke again, "Oh come now, don't be so shy. I saw the fire in your dancing and that is who you actually are. We really clicked back there you know..."

He approached you more and you backed up, hitting the wall. His breath once again washed over your face and he pressed his front up against you. "I think maybe we should somewhere more private..."

You struggled to pull away from him and finally spoke up, "No... I can't. This is my boss' house and he has rules. Plus, I'm not really looking for a relationship... I'm not one for moving so fast."

He looked into your eyes and shook his head. "Those have to be lies, I can't be reading you wrongly, you want this."

"No... I really don't." His forward behavior was starting to lose its initial charm and you really just wanted him to let you go, however his grip on your wrists became vice-like and you couldn't leave. "Please, I just want to get to bed."

The man shook his head, long hair swishing across his face. "It's a shame, I wanted this to go easier."

Suddenly he was forcing you around and slammed your front into the wall, the solid surface clacking against your skull. Crying out in pain, you struggled even harder against his grip, now just one hand holding down your wrists while the other pressed against your head and bent you forward. "Please don't do this... HE-"

Your yell was cut off as he slammed the side of your head into the wall again. He leaned in and his sickly minty breath was in your ear. "Do anything stupid like that again and I'll make the pain worse."

Why was he doing this? What purpose did all this serve? Tears were numbly streaming down your face now as you felt him lifting up your skirts over your hips, creeping fingers sliding under the edges of your underwear. You could transform now and save yourself from this mess, but then there would be a witness as to who you really are and that would put your mother in grave danger. There was nothing you could do. This man was too strong for you. Pitiful whimpers emitted from your crushed mouth.

There was a loud clunk from behind you and the man was screaming out in pain; all of a sudden, the pressure holding you in place was gone. Spinning around and pushing yourself as far away from the source of your pain as you could, you watched a purple figure wielding a cane chasing after your attacker whom was desperately trying to get away from the blows against his head. Hawk... Moth? The stress and alcohol and tiredness all came to you at once, and before you could answer that question, you passed out against the corner of the floor.

Blinking into the low light, you took a moment to even realize where you were. Your head felt like a bus had run over it and you groaned out loud. Wherever you were, you could not move. Feeling around, you realized you were tucked into your bed and only the bedside lamp was on. Looking up you saw Gabriel sitting beside you on the edge, a much softer expression on his face than before.

You started, not expecting him to be there, and you attempted to sit up, but a pressure in your chest forced you back down. Duusuu's voice came from the area, "No, you need to rest your head. Don't overdo it!"

Grimacing, Gabriel nodded. "She is absolutely correct. You shouldn't exert yourself right now, your skull took quite a hit." He almost smiled. "Though not as much as his did. How dare he damage the face of one of my models?"

Merely staring at him, you couldn't comprehend what he was trying to say. So what you had thought you had seen... was real? "Who... who was that man?"

Mr. Agreste looked away and closed his eyes. "That man was Alaster Michaelis, first son of the Michaelis line in London. I had heard rumors about him, but nothing solid. I still had a bad feeling when I saw him heading out of the room after you, so I followed him once I wasn't noticed. I couldn't let such a disgraceful thing happen at my company's event."

Tears once again burned at your eyes. "I didn't transform... I wanted to, I wanted to get out of there... but my Maman..."

Gabriel looked surprised for a moment but then looked down. "That is... admittedly... my own fault. I apologize for putting you in that situation."

He was so flustered, you couldn't help but smile a bit through the sobs, streaks now across your cheeks. So, there were certain things that he viewed as going too far. Moving your arm, you found his hand on the sheets and grabbed his fingers, giving them a squeeze. "You were trying to warn me about him this whole time weren't you? Haha, you really need to work on your communication skills. You should have told me outright."

Mr. Agreste somewhat froze at your touch, but then reevaluated the situation and gave your hand a squeeze back, your fingers somewhat intertwining. "I... suppose I should have done that."

Briefly, he stood up, stiff as a board and back to his usual manner. He glanced at you one final time before taking his mask from the nightstand that had been sitting next to yours. "Take care of yourself, I need you healed for pictures of the next line." And with that, he left, closing the door softly behind him.

Duusuu curled up on you and began to breathe more lightly, starting to calm down and realize how tired she was. You turned off the light, too tired and in too much pain to bother getting out of the dress. Gabriel would likely have all of them pressed later anyways. Sighing, you thought about his actions. So, he would be willing to kill your mother and let his akumas kill random civilians but letting that man have his way with you was going too far in his book? Or was it just about not letting one of his star models get severely messed up by such an event? Or could it be that he was never truly serious about killing your Maman? So many questions and absolutely no answers. Your eyes closed and you focused away from everything, just wanting the hurt to go away.

Sample music:  
watch?v=WTGCsv6WaEY  
watch?v=5Rwwqqc5Gk4  
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watch?v=oYFDWEZ5JLE  
watch?v=WXrdYwG17PE  
watch?v=rpEtinoYfV4  
watch?v=kqjeNSNuNPM  
watch?v=bcnj9btzcm8


	11. Chapter 11: Wrote in Blood

You looked over at Hawk Moth whom had his hands cupped around one of the poor butterflies, flooding it with his dark powers. "Fly away, my evil akuma, and overpower this young, misunderstood artist..." He reached forwards and let the little thing fly out and away from him. You sighed and readied yourself to follow. It had only been a couple of days since the dance. Your head still rang and throbbed slightly, though fortunately the bruises and cuts remained hidden under your mask. The villain stood absolutely still as you hesitated, just assuming that you would obey. Naturally you did, shakily making your way out of the dome and into the air after the akuma.

It flew straight towards the high school, making you grimace. Adrien, Alya, and Marinette were all there today working on some school film project. At least the two superheroes were sure to show. You glided in through the open courtyard ceiling and looked around carefully. There was no one around at the moment. Stealthily, you followed the winged creature as silently as it flew, watching it slither through an opening into the girl's bathroom. You waited outside, not sure if you would have been breaching someone's privacy.

Words began to ring through your head, now so familiar as you had worked with this man for so long. " Horrificator, I am Hawk Moth. Up until now, you have felt fear. From now on, you will cause fear. And after you show them how they make you feel, you will do something for me in return." There was a growling and a sickening splattering noise before he continued. "Be sure to let the peacock help you out. Two minds forming fear can be much better than one." Creating fear? You weren't even too good at watching horror movies.

The monstrous form slithered from the bathroom, no one that you were able to recognize from before. It growled slightly as it looked you up and down, mentally noting that you were a friend. You gave... it a nod and then it was off, crawling up and along the ceiling. Keeping to the shadows, you followed, trying not to be noticed by anyone you might come across.

A couple of boys were heard from around a corner complaining about some nurse uniform and you paused, glancing over just enough to gauge their distance. Smirking, you slid out behind them and flipped your fan, causing enough of a wind to knock them over onto their fronts and make them yell out in fright. The monster snickered evilly and dropped down, splattering them with a disgusting pink substance that froze them from any further movement.

It swiped them up in its tail with a satisfying fling and crawled down over a balcony, the panicked screaming fading away. Surely it wasn't going to kill them... right? Feeling uneasy, you followed it to the edge, immediately stopping in your tracks. The entire school filming group was now out in the court, looking around in confusion from hearing the yelling. You backed up into the corner, just managing to hear Adrien say, "Hey! Anybody here? Kim! Max! Where are you guys!"

There was a brief murmured conversation, and you continued to stay hidden, not sure as to what the new akuma victim was up to. Suddenly the voices faced and you heard the strangled grunts of the monster from above. The light was slowly getting blocked, and you peeked your head out to see Horrificator jumping back and forth across the school, covering it with that nasty pink. Great, now you were completely trapped as well.

Slinking around the side, you managed to catch up to it just as it slid down into an underground staircase. So that is where it had been going before? You decided to wait right here, not really wanting to see what the monster had been doing to the poor students. You couldn't interfere with that after all. Soon enough, it emerged, larger than before, and began to take off towards a classroom, utterly silent. Staying light on your feet, you followed suit.

It slid into the room, partially full with some of the class, Chat Noir, and Ladybug, so you paused, fairly confident that you wouldn't be so unnoticed. The monster roared from within, causing your head to pound once again. Grimacing in pain, you grabbed your temple to massage it. Horrificator continued to growl and soon ran from the classroom with a redheaded boy in its tail, petrified with fear. You barely managed to avoid the door thumping open, but you turned towards it swiftly, moving your fan to knock back the others and slam the door in font of them. Some of them screamed, but Ladybug kicked it open soon enough, although only when you had already managed to move away.

All, except for a goth looking girl, were screaming in fear as they attempted to run. Horrificator fought with Ladybug and Chat for a moment, but managed to get both of them trapped in goo before you could interfere. The monster grabbed a pink-haired girl from the panicked crowd and licked a heavy-set boy before disappearing to the stairs again. Hawk Moth's voice called out, "Their miraculouses are vulnerable! Get them!"

It paused in confusion, but you were pretty sure he was talking to you. Chat Noir was extending his stick in Ladybug's direction, so you leaped up and kicked it from his grasp. He cried out in shock and frustration, but you caught it with a laugh. "Trying to get away? Not that easily you don't. Now let me take those miraculouses!"

Ladybug screamed out, "Never, Le Plume! You don't know what you are really doing!"

Snickering, you flicked your fan and landed on the goo covering Chat, reaching for his ring. "I know what I am doing, and I choose to do so now."

Pain rung out through your head and you screamed, falling from your perch. The metal rod clanged to the floor next to your head, and suddenly you saw Chat reaching for it. Ladybug looked down at you in disgust and began to run off with the other hero for where the Horrificator had disappeared. "Fortunately for you, we are better than you!"

You sat up and just saw them leave with the remaining class, something appearing round in her hand. So she had just managed to get her yo-yo before being trapped. Stupid. You should have seen that. Sitting for just a moment, you whimpered. The pain was still too great from a couple a days ago, and Ladybug had just made it worse. After a moment, you stood, running down the stairs after everyone.

You paused at the corner, looking into the dark room that was now completely immersed in the pink slime and weird egg-looking things. Considering the voices coming from them, that had been where the monster had been taking and hiding everyone, apparently feeding off their fear. You sighed a bit in relief, so no one had been killed or eaten. Ladybug was running around in slight confusion, grabbing various things from around the room as the Horifficator was chasing Chat and spitting goo at him. He growled in frustration and called out, "Cataclysm!"

He ran through the room and many rusted metal bars began to fall down from the ceiling towards the monster. You sprinted out and swished your fan, not entirely thinking through what you were doing, "Wind storm!" The hurricane-force gusts blew forth and caught up the falling metal bars and several other loose objects in the room. They spun in a dangerous cyclone of sharp metal, and many people managed to duck out of the way of them. Gasping at what you had done, you attempted to fall to the floor, but the pain in your head made you move too slowly. Something hit your midsection from the back, and you crumpled, shock obscuring what had just happened to you.

The others were too busy dealing with the dying down storm that they didn't notice your plight. Groaning in pain, you tried to drag yourself back towards the stairs, seeing Chat running with the metal beams to throw down at the monster. They had won again... for now. But, you had bigger problems to deal with. You needed to get out of here asap.

Reaching down, you felt one of the rods in your chest. Crap. Your eyes rolled up and you could barely believe this had happened. The unbearable sharp stabbing sensation started to creep into your mind but you needed to ignore it. Within a matter of a few seconds, you forced yourself to grasp the metal and push back on it, dislodging it from your body. Coughing, you hauled yourself up the stairs while holding onto your wound and flicked the fan, willing the wind and powers to help propel you away from this place. The pink slime had begun to disintegrate, fortunately for you as your brooch began to beep its warnings.

Barely managing to keep your sight on track, you saw the Agreste manor looming before you and you spun your wrist one final time towards the open hole in the decorated window you now knew by heart. Careening through it, you let out your breath and collapsed to the concrete, your shoulder and hip getting severely scraped. There was a flash of light and you de-transformed, Duusuu appearing in front of your eyes and yelling something. You could not hear her though, there was a throbbing in your eardrums.

Surprisingly enough, you did not pass out despite the severe wound in your chest. The ground rumbled by you and you saw a purple knee hit the ground by your head. Hands were rolling you onto your back, and you grabbed at your injury, yelling out in pain. There was someone other than Duusu yelling down at you, and their words eventually began to make sense. "No! You were supposed to stay out there! Her powers don't reach in here..."

Opening your eyes slightly, you saw Hawk Moth looking around, slightly frightened as what to do. There was another bright flash and then Gabriel was next to you, scooping you up off the ground, causing more waves of pain to rake through your whole body. "Stupid girl, Ladybug's powers would have cured you... although they wouldn't be if my akuma didn't fail me... again."

You felt the two of you falling down into the ground and you couldn't help but cough, spraying red across the front of his silver vest and white jacket. He scowled at the unpleasantry, but didn't dare drop you. Before long he was walking briskly across the floor of the workroom, snapping something at another person. Oh no, who had seen you appear out of the floor?

He strolled right out into the entrance hall and laid you down at the bottom of the stairs, so far as you could decipher from the blurs and sounds. Grimacing, you sputtered again, feeling something gross and viscous roll down your chin. There was a clanging and something was being laid next to you on the floor. Gabriel didn't move from your side, his top and hands covered with your blood. Everything began to get cloudy, but you saw more purple and red moving around above you? Nathalie? What was she doing?

Your head was being hoisted up onto something warm and soft and Mr. Agreste's voice was in your ear. "Hold on, the ambulance is on its way..." That was when the torturous pain became too much and you blacked out on the tile for the second time in the past week, not sure exactly what was all going on.

The white lights were absolutely blinding. You let out a breath that you felt you had been holding in for quite a while and squinted your eyes, not sure if you would be able to completely open them. The room was painfully white, the little bit of light coming from overhead reflecting off of everything. The area smelled strongly of disinfectant, likely to cover up something less appealing. With a groan, you sat up, your palms almost sliding down off of the slick pillows underneath you.

A cold breeze flew through you, and you shivered, feeling a faint sharpness in your chest. You grabbed towards it momentarily, only realizing that you were wearing nothing but a loose nightgown tied at the back and bandages covering your whole midsection. Glancing around, the first thing to catch your eye was Gabriel Agreste sitting next to the bed, soundly asleep and slumped over. He no longer wore the blood soaked clothes, but a new set, more than likely brought to him by Nathalie.

Breathing out, you saw that you were lying down in a hospital bed, the curtains to the windows of the room drawn shut. A monitor beeped steadily behind you, and a bag dripped a liquid slowly down tubing towards your wrist which was punctured with a couple of needles. Swallowing at the unpleasant sight, a click made you look up to see a nervous male nurse walking into the room holding a clipboard to his chest. His eyes were on the sleeping fashion designer until the door had closed, but his mood perked up the moment he saw you there.

"Ah, I was hoping that you would be getting up soon." He spoke softly and glanced nervously at Mr. Agreste once again, making sure he didn't wake him up. "Typically it is past visiting time right now, but... we had to make an exception. I hope that this is okay with you."

So Gabriel had tormented the poor staff, typical, but somewhat hilarious. You gave the man a nod and tried not to fiddle with the bed sheets. He cleared his throat and looked down at the chart he held. "Your vitals are doing very well, fortunately that metal just barely managed to get your lung. We were able to stitch you up nicely, but you are going to have to take it easy for a while." His eyes flicked to you and he gave you a somber smile. "You need to be more careful going down the stairs next time. That nasty fall onto the rack nearly cost you more than your well-being."

So that must have been what Nathalie was moving around when you were barely conscious. She was setting up a story as to what had happened instead of the truth. Ultimately, it was to protect the identity of Hawk Moth more so than your own. Your eyes went to Gabriel, and you nodded, seeing the man begin to stir. The nurse continued anyways, "Your mother was here just a while ago, but she left when we told her visiting hours were over. She should be back in the morning for you. We will keep tracking your vitals overnight, but you should be good to go then."

There was a creak and the sound of heavy feet on tile and Gabriel was awake, stalking over to the nurse whom burst out into a nervous sweat. "So... how is she?"

"Sh-she's doing well Mr. Agreste. She will be good to go in the morning."

The intimidating man gave a nod of dismissal and the nurse left. He immediately turned towards you and walked over, hovering above the bed and leaning over you. Startled, you grabbed the blankets and pulled them up to your chin, pressing yourself as far as you could into the pillows under you. He spoke, "Did they see you?"

Who? Ah, he must have meant the people back at the school where you got injured in the first place. Your eyes flicked around the room, spotting no one else there. "Uhm, I'm pretty sure that they did not."

"Good. You better be right." He reached out a finger and pressed it against your temple where a bruise was, causing you to whimper. "You were not ready to go back out there. I need to be more careful or I might loose..." he hesitated, "...a very difficult to replace pawn."

Your eyes narrowed but you said nothing to upset him, fairly sure that the only reason why you were here was because of his company's health insurance. He started to head towards the door and you sat up, having just one thing to ask of him. "So Nathalie knows."

Gabriel stopped and turned to look at you, hands clasped behind his back. "Yes. She has always known. It's the only way that I manage to keep the secrets in the household, through a little bit of well-placed trust. It helps to have a second pair of eyes loyally working for you."

He looked extraordinarily smug and you clutched the blankets uncomfortably, not sure if you really wanted all the details behind this. But you had one final question. "W-where is Duusu?"

"Back at the house with the brooch healing herself. When you become injured in that suit, it is not only you who suffers for it."

Well... shit. You would never truly be able to make up for that, you knew. That rod that had slammed through you had also hurt your poor Kwami. Desperately, you hoped that she would really be okay.

Turning away, you heard his footsteps resume and the door open and close. He was reassured his secret remained safe, so why would he need to stay? The room was finally dimming down for the night, though you honestly had no idea how long you had been in the hospital. It could have been the following day for all you knew.

There was a bustling sound from outside the room and raised voices yelling. You looked up at them in confusion, wondering what was going on. A woman's voice rose up, just by the door to your room. "I know her very well mind you and I will go see her!" The door was flung open, banging into the wall, and there stood Sadie, looking as if she was about to start crying when she saw you. "Ah! Little bean! I was wondering why you hadn't come in today and then we all heard the news!"

Appointment? Well it apparently had been a day since you were initially injured. She came across the room to you and was about to wrap you in her arms but thought better of it, noticing your bandages. She sat heavily in the chair where Gabriel had been and crossed her legs before continuing on her rant. From the doorway you saw a few nervous faces peek in but then silently close the door to leave the two of you alone. "Francis wasn't able to make it, he had plans but he sends you all of his healing wishes. I saw Gabe on the way in here, so sweet of that man to take his precious time and check up on you."

You flushed, wishing she hadn't gotten that idea, but responded. "It's really nice to hear from everyone. I'm really sorry this has put me behind on my schedule."

She rose her hand to stop you and shook her head. "No no. We got Ada to do some of the work for you. You are on paid leave right now for recovery. I insisted! It wasn't fair for you to be worked so hard and then punished for a little accident. Mon deur, right after that dance too." Sadie gave you a wink. "Very sexy pictures from that night too. Magazines just came out. Merde! I was going to bring one and spaced it. You and Gabe made a very very nice cover. Was interesting seeing him in that mask and not those dreary glasses."

You chuckled at her remarks. "Trust me when I say that the night was a lot weirder and uncomfortable than those pictures may make it seem. But... admittedly... he was a gentleman. He helped me out of a bad situation with an unruly guest."

Sadie looked incredibly shocked and leaned in. "Ooo cherie, tell me more!"

Smiling, you reached down and poked her nose. "I know how fast rumors go in our business. That's all I'm going to say about it." Your grin faded and you looked back to the sheets, trying to suppress the memory. "At least I will be out of here tomorrow morning."

She nodded and got comfortable again. "Yes, and then you can start thinking about Christmas! I wonder what it is going to be like at that house you are in. I haven't seen any form of decoration there in a long long time."

Christmas?! Oh man, it was nearing the end of November wasn't it? You laid down on the pillow and groaned out loud. "Oh man, planning for gifts for everyone is the hardest part."

Sadie laughed. "Ah oui, and you are going to have to figure something out for the new ones in your life as well. Living at the Agreste place, you should probably get something for them... or something different for each of them. Definitely the latter, haha."

You glanced over at her, a deep frown on your face. "You go back with them a bit, Sadie. Do you have any idea what you would get for Mr. Agreste? Adrien will be fairly simple but..." your expression deepened, "...his father is going to be a whole other story."

"Hmmm, you are definitely going to need to find something special to impress that sort of a man that's for sure. I was thinking about this for a while actually... and is somewhat the reason why I brought up the holiday." Sitting up again, you tilted your head in confusion. What on earth was she talking about? Sadie stood up again and ruffled around in her bag, bringing out a palm-sized black box and handed it to you.

Taking it gingerly, you turned it over and saw written in silver text on the bottom, 'Emilie.' Who was that? Sadie spoke up again, "Emilie Agreste... Gabriel's missing wife. We were friends you know; really really close friends. Sadly we didn't talk too much in the years leading up to her disappearance. However before we broke contact, she wanted me to hold onto that little detail for her. I wasn't too sure why exactly, but I was willing to do just about anything for her."

Placing the box upright in your palm, you gave the top a solid pull up on the hinges to reveal a silver bracelet. Around the edges were many different charms, no two the same. Picking it up, the cluttered arrangement made a pleasant jingling sound. Sadie's voice almost made you jump. "Her charm bracelet. She managed quite a collection of the little things on there and she loved it to death, wearing it almost every day. I guess she lost her connection to it and wanted me to have a way of being reminded of her. I'm not sure why considering I worked for her husband." She laughed. "Ah well, I know Gabriel would have a much better reason to hang onto that now than me... and I never give the man anything so I figured that you would have a easier time than me."

You put the bracelet back in the box and closed it, sitting it in your lap and turning to Sadie to give her a big hug. "Thank you. This makes my life so much simpler." She gingerly hugged you back and turned to leave.

"Sleep well and heal up now! We don't need you falling behind on more of our projects."

The door shut a lot more quietly than it had been opened and you moved the bracelet to the bedside stand, intent on going to bed. Yawning in exhaustion, you became painfully aware of how alone you were without Duusu beside you. It was a more difficult time in going to sleep, but you managed, wondering what the next day would bring.

Snow? It shouldn't have come as a surprise but, it still just seemed to be too early. The entire morning had been spent checking you out of the hospital; making sure the insurance covered everything, which it did, and signing all the paperwork required. All of the windows had been covered with blinds and drapes, so you had no idea of the weather conditions until you had stepped outside with your mother whom had come to help you.

The moment she had seen you walk out of the room, she had glomped you close to her and wouldn't let go for a full five minutes, her cheeks stained with tears. She had ranted at you for so long about needing to be more careful, that you were all she had left in the world. You hugged her back and reassured that you would do that for her, even though you unspokenly knew that you were risking your own life for her every day.

Adrien greeted you outside with a similar hug, happily proclaiming his delight in seeing you well. The Gorilla stood by the black limousine at the ready, clearly the method through which your mother made it to the hospital. You gave him a friendly nod and stepped into the warmth of the back seating area. The snow was surely exciting, but heat was always more comfortable than the ice.

Your mother and Adrien followed you inside, starting up a chipper conversation on what you had missed back at the house. It wasn't much but was still fun to hear about the various exchanges, especially those involving Marinette and Alya at school. Checking your phone, you saw that you had a few missed messages from each of them, worried about your well-being. Finally you were able to send something back to them saying, 'I'm alright guys. Out of there and back home today 3.'

The limo came to a stop and the door was opened to allow the small cluster of people out at the front of the house. Your mother gave you a kiss and immediately split off from you two in order to start getting things ready in the kitchen. Adrien waved a goodbye to her and started talking to you about the new magazine, "Whoever took that photo for the cover much have gotten a bonus. It was incredibly well-timed."

You began walking up the stairs and looked back at him. "Oh? I actually haven't had a chance to see it yet. Sadie was going to bring it for me, but she spaced on it, haha."

He grinned and pulled on your sleeve, "Then you've gotta come with me. I've got a copy in my room! I'm surprised that you haven't received one, considering you're the star."

Blushing, you shook your head but relented and followed. "I was only doing my job..."

Adrien frowned at you. "While that is true, you really went beyond for this one. The dancing; it was truly a unique method of modeling. I'm sure you made my father proud."

You bit back any words you had, not wanting to ruin the moment. Surely what he did for his father also made him proud? Gabriel just wasn't the one to show it. Entering the large bedroom, you plopped yourself down on the couch with familiarity, having been here several times to play video games already. He rushed over with the volume in hand, throwing it down on the table in front of you.

Your eyes widened as you took in the cover of the magazine. It truly was gorgeous and taken with such skill. It was the moment just at the ending of the second song, when you were in the green and blue dress. Gabriel also took up much of the photo, his mask obscuring his identity. His hand was in the center of your back, leaning you gracefully towards the floor over his knee, the intensity of his blue eyes glaring down over the front of your body. One of your hands delicately touched his shoulder and the other extended above your head and under the falling tresses of your hair that brushed the floor. The title to the right of the image read, 'Agreste, getting back into the swing of things.'

It took you a second to realize you weren't breathing and you shook your head rapidly, reaching out and picking up the thing to flip through. "You really weren't kidding about that photographer. As much as your dad terrifies me, they really got a good side of him for this."

Adrien sat next to you and gave your shoulder a nudge. "Don't be so modest! You really make the picture too. The articles rave about how great you looked in the dresses." He laughed, covering his mouth. "Anyways, I still can't believe my dad danced... at all!"

You chuckled in return and handed him the magazine back. "Likewise. I really didn't think he was going to take my suggestion to heart. It really seems to have gotten the company a much needed popularity-boost though."

He nodded and stood to put the article away. "Yeah. If I had anything to say about it, I would think my dad really owes you one."

Shaking your head, you stood and headed for the door. "I wouldn't want to go that far." Pausing, your hand on the handle, you gave Adrien a smile. "Thanks for showing that to me... I have some errands I need to run though."

He was turning on the TV as you left, but he gave you a slight nod. "Yeah no problem! Just be sure to be careful."

You shut it behind you and let out a deep breath. The picture was flattering, but you hoped everyone would realize that it was just business. Why did you need to keep repeating this to yourself? Well, Christmas time neared, and you wanted to get everything out of the way as soon as you could. However, the clothes your Maman had brought to the hospital were not warm enough for this weather.

Pushing yourself off of the door, you headed over to your room and stepped inside. There was a brief flash of movement from the table and suddenly something small was digging into your cheek and making cooing noises. Crying out, you cupped the small figure to you in a gesture of comfort. "Oh Duusu! I was so worried about you! I'm so sorry..."

She looked up at you with her big eyes and laughed. "It's okay, it wasn't your fault. Gabriel made you go on that mission when your health wasn't ready for it. None of us could have known the severity of what ended up happening. Besides, I'm fine now! Nathalie brought me lots of berries while you were gone."

Sure enough, there was a large bowl of raspberries on the table next to the brooch which lay there, dull with Duusu still outside of it. Smiling, you picked it up and placed it back into your hair where it sat so comfortably. "I'm glad to see you okay. I really do need to be more careful though." You slipped the small black bracelet box from your pocket and placed it into the nightstand drawer. That would be wrapped later on once you had all the gifts purchased.

"We are going out for tonight though. I'm not really that hungry and I want to get Christmas shopping done before the rushes really start." You threw off the drab T-shirt and jeans and began to ruffle through your closet for something warm but attractive.

Duusu hovered by the doorway, concern on her little face. "Are you sure? You just got out of the hospital today. You should be resting and healing."

A slim black turtleneck sweater dress with a pair of wool-lined dark blue leggings and some nice waterproof high-heeled boots to match would do. Slipping into each of these, you flashed a smile at the little Kwami. "I will be alright. It's not like shopping is a high-stress activity. Besides, there will be plenty of people around in case something does go wrong, but they told me that I was doing great."

She shook her head and giggled. "If you say so. I trust you. But you really should relax for at least a little bit. The evening is still to come." She pointed towards the windows where light still streamed in.

Sighing you relented and sat down on the couch, turning on the TV to kill a few hours. You still decided to skip lunch and went through a few of your music sheets for the play. The evening came soon enough and you grinned, excited to get going.

Duusu went to go eat a few more berries before you wanted to leave just as you began to bundle up for the cold weather. On top of the dress, you threw on a long black coat that brushed the backs of your knees, silver fur lining the brim of the hood and the bottom edge. Crossing one side over the other, you secured it to yourself by tying a large ribbon.

You threw a few essentials in a small bag that complimented your whole outfit and drew the hood up by your face. Duusu flew into the coat to hide and snuggled up within the comfy fur. Giggling, you left your room, strolling down the entry hall stairs and towards the double doors. Grabbing the handle, you gave it a pull, only to find it securely locked. You backed away confused, and the doors to Nathalies' office area opened, revealing said woman to you.

She looked you over and frowned, clearly about to deliver some bad news. "I'm so sorry. I've been instructed to not allow you to leave until you have had adequate time to heal."

Fuming, you looked down. Trapped. It just figured. It wasn't this woman's fault though; Gabriel wanted to make sure that his asset remained workable. Heavy footsteps from behind made you turn towards the stairs, right as a voice spoke up. "It is okay, Nathalie. I will be heading out with her this evening."

She blinked at Gabriel a couple times in confusion, but then gave him a nod and went to her office. "Of course, Mr. Agreste. Let me get your coat."

Gabriel walked up next to you and waited, a hand in his pocket. He wasn't in his normal outfit. The man was sporting more solid black shoes, dark slacks, and an obsidian sweater. You were staring again. Blushing, you turned away, hoping that he would not come to realize that you were also wearing such a sweater underneath your coat. Nathalie reemerged, holding up a dark-as-night trench coat made of leather or vinyl and a long bright-red scarf. He slid both of them on quickly with ease, and wrapped the scarf around his neck at least three times.

There was a loud clack and you reached for the door, just wanting out of here. Gabriel reached the handle first though, smirking down at you and opening it. How 'gentlemanly'. You rolled your eyes and stepped through into the snow, coming to realize that it was still falling. A few inches were already on the ground creating a winter wonderland. The door thudded shut behind the two of you and Mr. Agreste came to stand beside you.

You beat him to speaking first. "Why are you coming with me?"

He looked you up and down, his eyes icy as the snow. "Shouldn't that be obvious? You are still not completely healed. I cannot have my star wandering around on her own in such a state."

Sighing, you crossed your arms but refused to turn to him. "You know exactly what I mean. You rarely leave the house."

He fiddled a bit with the tie on his coat and reached into his pocket to grab his cell-phone. "Hmm. Suppose I said I was actually going Christmas shopping myself?"

A laugh broke from your lips before you could even stop it. That warranted you to finally look at him to gauge his sincerity. "You never do that! It's always Nathalie or some poor other secretary. Besides, how did you know that was what I was doing?"

His eyes met yours, flicking away from the screen of the device. "I never said I knew, and besides I did not know. Anyways, my employees are rather busy right now, preparing for something important. I should probably put in the effort for my son... he hasn't been too pleased with the pens I've... Nathalie's been giving him." His frown deepened and he began to type something. "It just so happens that we were hoping to leave at the same time."

You didn't dare believe a word he had to say, but you didn't have any choice in the matter. It was either go with him or remain stuck in the house for several days. "Oh fine. Perhaps I can help you with that. I've been spending more time with your son now than you have been apparently."

Gabriel's look showed that he didn't appreciate your comment, but he chose to ignore it. "The driver should be here shortly."

"Driver? I was really hoping to walk a bit today." You pouted slightly.

He pocketed his phone and crossed his own arms. "You are not in the condition to walk that far..." His eyes glanced towards you and looked away hesitatingly. "Though... I suppose that the driver can take us there and we can access how well you are doing..."

He relented to you? Without even any threats? That was surely a first. It made you worry slightly, but at the same time you could not help but smile. He couldn't do anything to you as you were still too valuable. The limo soon pulled up, a man you did not recognize coming out and opening the back door for you. Giving him a friendly nod, you stepped inside, Mr. Agreste following you without a word.

The ride over to the shopping area wasn't long, as it really wasn't as far as Gabriel made it sound. It was, however, incredibly quiet as the man sat messing with his phone nearly the entire time. For the rest of it, he merely ignored your existence and stared out the window at the passing streetlights. Honestly, you preferred it that way.

The car came to a stop and the door was opened, Mr. Agreste sliding out first. You followed suit, adjusting your coat, and noticed your boss pulling his scarf to cover the lower half of his face. Clearly he did not wish to be recognized. He waved the driver off, and the man nodded, taking the vehicle away. It would be back if so needed.

You headed towards the main entrance, pulling up your hood while the snow tickled your ears and cheeks. Heavy footsteps followed, and Gabriel caught up, both of his hands now gloved and shoved into his coat pockets. Just from his eyes you could tell he was miserable. You almost felt bad.

Reaching the first large-scale industrial store, you headed inside, glad that in the late hours there weren't too many people around. You started to head towards the electronics, still pondering exactly what you wanted to get your friends. The footfalls still followed you, and you turned, seeing Mr. Agreste trailing behind. You sighed and lowered your hood back down, crossing your arms. "Look, what if I was getting you something hm? It would ruin the surprise. I can't have you hovering around me like that the entire time." You pressed a finger to your temple. "I will be fine, alright? And if I'm not then you can lock me away for a few days as recompense. Sound good?"

The ice blue glanced over you for a moment, and he growled, walking up close to you. "Alright, it's a deal. And I assure you I'm taking it very seriously." With that he left, walking down the aisle and turning right, out of sight.

You sighed and turned to Duusu still hidden away. "I felt like I was never going to have a moment of privacy. Now... let's get this over with." Going around the store, you came up with a few ideas and then started to gather them into your hand basket. The newest console for Adrien, some connectors for Nino's set up, the latest designed whisk your mom had been hinting at, a clothing design manual and guide written by some of Marinette's favorite designers, and some ladybug headphones for Alya. Looking through everything one last time, you nodded and began to head up towards the front counter to check out. That was when you spotted Gabriel again, looking lost in the clothing section.

Groaning, you went over to him. He didn't seem to notice you and you came up behind him hearing him muttering to himself, "None of these are suitable... such distasteful garbage..."

"What are you doing?"

He didn't seem startled, but he whipped around to face you, eyes wide. They narrowed immediately and he crossed his arms, remaining silent. You smiled slightly. "Do you... even know what you were going to get Adrien?"

The man refused to look at you, but his arms slackened, his face dropping towards the floor. "I... I'm not sure yet."

You took a step back, appalled. You were not used to him looking... defeated. His voice also lacked that authority it usually had, and it made you feel uncomfortable. This was not the Gabriel Agreste you knew and feared. Swallowing nervously, you walked forwards again. You made sure not to bump into him on accident, but you stood close, feeling compelled to help him out.

"Here, you should take this. This is the new gaming console that Adrien has been wanting but hasn't gotten around to getting." You lifted it from your basket and shoved it at his arms.

He blinked at it for a moment and then looked at you. Hesitatingly, he took it. "How can you be so sure one of his other friends hasn't gotten it for him already?"

You smiled. "Most of his friends aren't wealthy, and that thing costs quite a chunk. It's not something a casual friend would get one another. As for Chloe, she always seems to forget gifts. So it should be fine." You glanced away, feeling your cheeks burn momentarily. "You know if you ever do need help, it's not abhorrent to ask others now and then."

Mr. Agreste cleared his throat. "What will you get him now?"

Shrugging casually, you turned to head back towards the electronics. "I'll get him a few games for that thing. I remember a few of the ones he has mentioned." Gabriel remained staring after you as you walked away.

Duusuu pulled on your ear. "You didn't have to do that you know."

You shushed her. "It's okay. I couldn't just leave him floundering like that. He probably would have killed me later. Besides... I'd rather fight evil with kindness than with more hate if I can help it."

She shook her head. "You would make a great hero if you weren't so trapped you know."

You sighed sadly and continued with your shopping, making your purchases and heading out the door. Gabriel already waited for you there, a heavy-looking bag in hand that obviously contained much more than just the game console. Giving him a smile, you walked past, making your way towards the Seine. He followed, his footfalls even sounding agitated. "This is not the way back. Where are you going?"

Pulling your hood back up to protect yourself from the snowflakes, you glanced over at him. "I have an urge for some coffee. There is only one place open this late, and besides, its snowing. We should enjoy it while it lasts."

Mr. Agreste grumbled. "Yes, for the next several months." Ignoring him, you were just happy he didn't insist on dragging you back. He continued along next to you, his breath creating clouds in the chilled air though his scarf. Maybe this toleration was his way of thanking you for helping him. You were always so unsure now how human his mannerisms really were. One moment for him was never the same as another.

It only took you about five minutes to walk to the coffee shop, passing a small area that was being formed into an ice rink. A few brazen skaters had already come out. You watched on longingly as you walked by, having not been able to take part in this activity for a long while. However, a warm drink sounded so much better right now. There were only a few people scattered around the room, and no line at the front counter.

Pulling out your wallet, you smiled cheerily at the barista. "Hello. I'll take one of the medium peppermint mochas please."

She rung you up, but then you were suddenly being gently pushed to the side, Gabriel walking up to the counter with his own small black wallet out. He muttered, "And I'll have an espresso, nothing else."

The barista looked nervously between you two but then nodded, adding his to the order. You felt confused. "What are you doing now?"

He didn't look at you. "Paying. Your money comes from my company anyways, just go find somewhere to sit."

Blinking a couple times, you merely strode away, putting your wallet back in your purse. You strode onto the open deck and took one of the small tables covered by an umbrella. It was incredibly cold out but you enjoyed it, watching the snow fall down all around the river and city.

You heard someone clearing their throat and you turned to see Gabriel sit opposite you, placing your drinks on the table and pushing yours toward you. Taking it, you still felt like this whole moment was unreal. "Th...thanks."

He raised an eyebrow, lowering his scarf. "Maybe sitting outside was unwise. The chill has made you stutter."

You narrowed your eyes and looked back towards the water, sipping on your coffee. Mr. Agreste unfolded a newspaper, casually reading it to pass the time. Things remained that way for a while, so peaceful, but it had to come to an end.

Finally finishing your drink, you stood, going back inside to put your mug away. Gabriel returned the paper, having finished his coffee long before. Leaving the shop, you headed in the direction of home, feeling sad that your time out and about would stop so abruptly. Your boss trudged through the snow next to you, not saying a word.

Through the air you heard someone yelling. "Oh my god is that... the fashion designer Gabriel Agreste?!" His head whipped around, mouth agape in shock, and you realized he had not drawn his scarf back up.

You turned as well and your hood fell to the side, just your luck. "Ahhh and it's his star with him!"

Everything was a blur and you felt Mr. Agreste's vice grip on your upper arm, dragging you down the street at an incredible speed that you struggled to keep up with. Shouts and screams echoed from behind as well as a general rumble of people advancing. The sight would have been funny if it wasn't so terrifying. Right before you thought you might lose your grip on your bag, Gabriel quickly turned down a side street and immediately darted into an alley. He ran the two of you behind a trash container and pushed you back against the brick wall. Pulling up his scarf, he also drew your hood forward as far as it could manage. His gloved hands went to rest on either side of your head as he pressed you against the bricks, eyes trained towards the street. You panted heavily from the run, but tried to keep quiet, grabbing onto his coat to resist falling to your knees in exhaustion. Maybe you weren't completely back to being yourself yet.

The tremors approached and the crowd ran on, still shouting your names and looking around for where the two of you had vanished. Fortunately none of them spotted your hiding place. They passed and the sounds faded into the distance, but Gabriel kept you pinned to the shadows for a few moments more, just to be certain. In that amount of time you became all too aware of how close he was to you, his face hovering inches above yours. You blushed and let go of his coat, making sure everything was still in your possession.

He finally backed off and checked his things too, white puffs of steam coming from the scarf. His face was red as well, but it was more than likely from the surprise exercise and the cold. You crossed your arms and began to head out of the alley. "I take it this is more a reason than any to head back home then?"

Fingers grasped your arm and you stopped, turning to face him. He shook his head. "No, actually. Most of Paris knows where I... where we live now. They will have headed that way. It would be best to let them... get bored."

You tilted your head. "What do you have in mind then?"

He pulled you along, much more gently this time, and led you out the other side of the small passageway. "You seemed interested in the ice skating. We can do that as long as we don't give ourselves away. I think you've proven yourself mostly healed after that moment of excitement."

Nodding at him, you struggled against a smile. Seeing him dance was one thing, but now you were going to see him ice skate? It was almost too much. Keeping your hood up, you trailed along after your boss as he made sure his scarf covered half of his face once again. You reached the small rink shortly, and rented some skates from a very boisterous man whom was happy to keep your bags safe in the meantime.

You went out onto the ice, struggling against the slippery surface. Gabriel slid past you with ease, turning around and pausing with an eyebrow raised. "I think this is the first time I have ever seen you really struggle with something."

Pouting, your knees buckled and you fell, smacking them against the solid ground, hard. You cried out and gritted your teeth, starting to make your way back up. Gloved hands grabbed your elbows and helped you effortlessly. Mr. Agreste merely shook his head at you, but you knew under your scarf he was smirking, and you hated it.

Finally finding your sense of balance, you began to skate forward, some memories coming back to your mind. The movements began to take hold and you moved on, picking up speed and momentum. Laughing you went around and around while Gabriel preferred to stick to going at a slower pace in the middle of the rink.

It was on your fifth pass that he moved faster and caught your shoulder, making you pause. He leaned towards you, "I think that is enough. We should head back without any disturbances now."

You nodded, crossing your arms with a shiver. It was starting to really get cold now, and a bit of a breeze had picked up. Many of the other skaters were heading out, and you felt drowsy from your exciting day. You returned the skates and retrieved your things, heading back towards the house, Gabriel beside you. Cautiously you glanced over at him, and he merely seemed lost in thought, his eyes on the road ahead. This was a weird feeling, going along like this. The evening had... almost felt like a date.

Shaking your head vigorously, you turned to look at the sidewalk with beet-red cheeks. How could you even begin to think something like that? Fortunately there was no one at the house when you reached it, and Nathalie had the doors wide open after the two of you had entered the gate.

You started to dash upstairs, feeling quite embarrassed from the whole ordeal, but you paused, remembering what you had said to Duusuu earlier. Looking back, knowing your face was definitely still blushing, you called out to Gabriel whom was taking off his coat, "Thank you... th-thank you for everything," and you practically sprinted to your room, slamming the door.


	12. Chapter 12: Christmas Miracles

The snow was still falling. It didn't seem to ever stop, although it never really rose above three feet outside. You sighed and pressed your hand against the cold glass of your window, pulling it away to reveal a hand print in the moisture. It was odd that this could happen even in the homes of the wealthy.

Absentmindedly, Duusu drew little flowers on the glass, snickering to herself. It was a lazy day, winter break was here and you didn't feel like practicing. In fact, it was a pretty big holiday. Christmas lights shone into your dimly lit room. Red and green and white. They were beautiful... shining from across the street and throughout the city. However... not from this house.

Nothing was decorated. Nathalie, the Gorilla, and Adrien were out putting up a tree in the entry hall, but that was it. They had even waited till the very last minute to do it. You had a much smaller tree set up in your room with a few special ornaments on it and a wreath upon your door, but that was all you had brought with you. Your Maman was too busy to do any sort of decorating, and was even too busy preparing a Christmas feast to spend any time with you right now. You had insisted on helping her but she shook her head and sternly pushed you out of the kitchen to 'enjoy your holiday.' But what enjoyment was any of this?

You breathed out heavily onto your hand print, obscuring it once again with your own breath. "Oh Duusu, it seems it is just you and me this Christmas."

She shook her head. "You could go help them put up the tree you know, Adrien invited you."

Flinching, you weren't sure how to respond. "That's true but... it still hurts. My Maman and I have only celebrated one without Papa, and it was incredibly important that we had each other. Now she is too busy to see me and... it feels strange to not be with family."

The Kwami giggled. "Oh, technically speaking, Adrien is a part of your family now. You're all stuck here under this one roof."

You smirked and poked her side. "I guess you're right. I don't have to be completely content with it, but it's better than nothing." Friends really were still a sort of family, and you glanced at the fruitcake you had gotten from Marinette's bakery earlier in the day.

Wrapping your shawl tighter across your body and heading towards the door, you wondered if Mr. Agreste would be out there with the others. You highly doubted it. The lack of decor adorning the manor seemed to suggest he didn't hold holidays in that high of a regard. It made you also wonder what he had been up to though. Rarely had you seen him stalking throughout the house and he hadn't bugged you ever since that shopping day a month ago. Not as your boss and neither as Hawkmoth. It was... unlike him, you found yourself realizing.

You opened your bedroom door only to see Adrien fly past it huffily, not even noticing that you had emerged. His door slammed heavily, jarring the hallway. Blinking a couple of times in astonishment, you didn't quite know what was going on. You had seen him get sad, distant, but never really this furious. There was a soft step from where he had come from, and you turned your head to see Nathalie emerging from the stairwell with a shocked frown on her face.

The secretary seemed to notice you however and cleared her throat, closing her mouth and adjusting her glasses. She strode over to you and sighed, not really making eye contact. "I tried to tell him... his father will be coming out of his office shortly. If only he had waited a few more minutes." With that she turned back down the hall. "Your mother has informed me that dinner will be in a couple of hours."

Well, apparently you had missed the tree decorating. Duusu gave you a comforting pat on the side and you smiled down at her, deciding to leave your door open for the time being. So Gabriel kept himself cooped up with work, even on Christmas. Poor Adrien. He really deserved so much better.

Deciding he really just needed space, you plugged your phone into the speaker jack and began to play some Christmas music, letting it spill out into the hall. Closing your eyes, you swayed your head to the tunes, droning out the world for just a little while.

Shouting broke through the notes and you paused, getting up to go and see what the commotion outside was. Gabriel was standing in the doorway of Adrien's room, a cold breeze emitting from it. His eyes were wild and he yelled out his son's name. The Gorilla and Nathalie ran past you to him, and he whirled to face them. "Go and find him immediately! Immediately!"

They nodded and ran back, on their way to do the best they could for him. However you knew better than they, Adrien would be untraceable as Chat. You stepped into the hallway towards Mr. Agreste and raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. He stepped towards you and grabbed your shoulder firmly, his fingers digging in to the bone. His face was still a bit wild, and you saw a flash of color from the floor near him; a beautifully wrapped present that he must have been on his way to deliver.

Your heart ached momentarily and you saw him fighting for words. Eventually he found them. "Please, do what you must and find my son. Make sure he is safe." He sounded more genuine and frightened than you had ever heard him before.

You swallowed nervously and gently touched his hand with your own. Naturally, you could not refuse him. Especially like this. "Of course, sir. I will make sure of it."

He let you go with a nod and you transformed quickly, knowing no one else was in the hallway. You dashed past your employer and through Adrien's room, leaping out of the still-open window into the snow and cold. The suit protected you somewhat, but the chill still nipped at you.

Flicking out your fan, you flew over the main road, just in time to see the Gorilla driving the limo out of the gates to scour the city himself. You would be much faster though. Chat had left no detectable traces of his path in the snow. None you could spot anyhow. Sighing, you bounded roof to roof, looking for anything that could have betrayed his whereabouts. It was not going to be any easier for you, it seemed, than for the other employees.

About a quarter of an hour later, you spotted a lone figure walking down the sidewalk in a bright red and white hat. His arms were curled about himself from the cold, and you recognized the clothes he had on. Adrien! At last... it seemed he had already transformed back. Perhaps he had used up the burst of anger and disappointment from earlier. Tempting as it was to go down and help him get back to the house in a flash, you knew that you couldn't. It would give you away to him, and would do so much more harm than good. Grimacing, you followed along like a silent phantom, intent on making sure he just stayed safe.

Eventually he came across a poor looking Santa Claus handing out small gifts to some children along the side of the main street, although they were just getting thrown back at him. You ducked behind a chimney and watched the scene unfold. Naturally Adrien was going to help him out, it was just his nature. Wishing you could hear the exchange that occurred, you noticed that by the time they were done talking, Adrien was riding in the back of the man's sleigh under a blanket and the Santa had the new hat on. Already giving him his possessions even though he hardly knew him. You chuckled to yourself and followed in the shadows. At least they were heading back to the house.

They stopped the carriage and Adrien was getting out... with the Santa. Oh no, Gabriel would not be happy about that. You gritted your teeth and headed for lower ground. The eye was popped out of the gate's wall and was glaring down at the stranger, Mr. Agreste's angry tone sounding throughout the empty square. "Really now? That would make me the Easter Bunny. You're here for money, I suppose? I'll get my bodyguard to deal with you."

Adrien attempted to speak up for him, "No, you're wrong father!" But then another voice interrupted him that you weren't expecting.

"No, he's not. Your father's got the right idea. He's a super-villain under Hawk Moth's control." You looked over and in the middle of the road stood Ladybug, spinning her yo-yo around aggressively. Oh no, she had completely the wrong idea. Even the gate eye was looking out at her in silence.

The Santa Claus started and ran back towards his sleigh, spouting something about everyone being crazy, but Ladybug ran after him. Adrien tried to stop her, but she ignored him, intent on stopping the imaginary villain. You had to do something.

Flicking your fan, you flew out over the street and dropped down towards the road, ending up kneeling in the soft snow. You stood and noticed Ladybug sprinting right at you, as you had managed to land between her and her target. Dodging to the left with a laugh, you swept your weapon after her and knocked her into the nearest drift. "See you are wrong, Ladybug. That Santa is no akuma of Hawkmoth's." You snickered evilly and crossed your arms. "But you made yourself readily vulnerable for me."

She tuned over and growled up at you for a moment before realization hit her eyes. Looking over at where the Santa had driven off she let out a little, "Oh no..."

That was when you saw the akuma flutter past her head in that direction. Well shit. She didn't notice it however and looked back at you with a grimace, getting back on her feet. "I may have made a mistake this time but I will make no mistake in stopping you!"

Rushing at you, you snapped your fan up at her and caught her arm. She yelped and retaliated, throwing the yo-yo towards you. You flung yourself at the snow and avoided it, pushing yourself back up and using the momentum to kick her. The fight continued this way for a few moments before there was a very loud, "Horrible Christmas!" from up above.

Glancing up, you saw that the Santa Claus had indeed been akumatized now. Great. This was all you wanted from the holiday. You were now inclined to agree with what this man had been shouting. Glaring at Ladybug, you swept your fan down and knocked her over with the wind, propelling yourself to the sleigh and grabbing onto the nearest runner.

The contraption began to take off and the villian laughed. "Seems like there is plenty of awful Christmas feelings going around here without my help."

You rolled your eyes. "You can say that again."

Chat eventually showed up, as you knew he would, and they made their way to where the two of you were patrolling the skies. Surprisingly, they were easy enough to keep off of the sleigh. However, this villiain wasn't the brightest of the bunch, and so ultimately the fight became much more skewed towards the heroes this time.

In a series of events beyond your control, you ended up falling from the sleigh, only to stare up at the Santa opening a present presented to him from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Despite Hawk Moth's and your screams at him, he continued his actions and became trapped by the duo. You gripped at your beeping brooch and fled from the scene, knowing any further action would be pointless now.

You flew up over the wall and into the Agreste's back yard. Feeling exhausted, you transformed back there, making sure Duusu kept warm in your hair. Knowing Gabriel would probably be upset you didn't return to the lair this time, you slipped through the front quietly and up to your room, closing the door.

Collapsing on the bed, you saw your Kwami head for one of your shelves to hide and rest, there being no berries in the room right now. Your mom didn't want you in the kitchen, you would have to just wait until you had an opportunity to get some later.

You heard footsteps in the hallway after a little bit, and muffled voices. But no one entered your room, much to your relief. You just wanted the day to be over, having handed out all of the gifts... well, except for two of them. Glancing at the drawer that held them over your book, you sighed. Well, maybe you would bug Adrien before he went to bed and just hand the one for Gabriel to Nathalie to deal with.

Your momentary peace was too good to be true, there was a light knock at the door and it began to creak open. Thinking it was Nathalie, you let out an irritated, "What is it now?" and turned your head towards the disturbance. Instead, you were met with the visage of Gabriel, looking slightly shocked with his mouth hanging a tad ajar.

He cleared his throat and fully entered the room, closing the door behind him and adjusting his glasses. Opening his eyes, he didn't really look at you but clasped his hands behind his back. This was the first time you were face to face with him and talking since the Christmas shopping. The atmosphere was awkward. "You... didn't return to the lair as I expected. I was hoping at the time that we would both give Adrien his presents together... since they are related after all. He did end up really liking the console, as you said he would." He paused. "All of his friends... and yours... are here now. Your mother is dining with them, everyone is insisting you go and join them."

Closing the book, you turned and put it on the dresser, resting your feet on the ground and fully facing him. You tilted your head curiously, "Why did you come up here to get me, and not them?"

You didn't think he could grimace any more than he already was, but he walked towards you and sat next to you on the bed, a great deal closer than you expected. You had to struggle to keep from just sliding into the imprint he was making. Fishing something out of his jacket, he held out a finely wrapped package towards you; a lovely white with red ribbons. "Because you are the only one I haven't given their gift yet."

Blinking several times, you could barely believe what you were looking at. He had gotten a gift... for you? Reaching out, you barely brushed it with your fingertips before withdrawing. Swallowing nervously, you took it from him and set it in your lap, unsure as to whether you could actually open it or not.

Thinking of anything to put that moment off, you snapped your fingers and looked up. "Oh, I almost forgot..." You leaned over towards your dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out the black and white wrapped box from the contents. Turning back, you held it out to him. "This is for you."

He seemed just as shocked as you that there was a gift for him. He took it from you and set it on the bed next to him, gingerly reaching his fingers underneath the tape to pop the sides open. Naturally you didn't even have to tell him to open his first. Sliding out the small black box, he raised an eyebrow, unsure as to what he was seeing yet. Gingerly, he pulled up on the top, and there was the charm bracelet, revealed at last.

Gabriel's face blanched and he shut the box quickly, turning it back over. The silver font caught the light and glimmered, he whispered it aloud, "Emilie..." Immediately he opened it again, looking over all the charms inside and touching each of them carefully. His face snapped up and made sure you looked him in the eye. "How did you... find this?"

Blushing, you scratched the back of your neck and turned away, sitting up very straight. "It was really Sadie that had it all along. She had been wanting to get it to you, but thought that it might be easier if I did it. I... honestly had no idea what to get for you."

Glancing back at him, you saw him turn and place the jewelry box upon the bed and lean towards you. Before you could realize what was happening, his arms wrapped around your back and pulled you close to him. His head rested against the side of yours and you felt his breath pass over your ear. He whispered again, "Thank you."

You froze in fear, too afraid to move. The embrace was so unexpected but not... uncomfortable. He was warm and gentle, but strong too. You found yourself not wanting to move away from him. Reaching up, you barely managed to touch your fingers to his shoulders before he sat back, much to your dismay.

Mr. Agreste stared ahead at the wall, unable to make eye contact again. He crossed his arms and glanced at your gift, "Shouldn't you open yours now?"

Gasping, you snatched it up off your lap a bit too quickly and paused, not wanting to appear so eager. You tore through the paper, almost sad to destroy such a beautiful wrapping, Inside was a plain looking box which you opened, removing some tissue paper from the top. Your breath was taken away as you reached down to touch the soft black fabric. Within the weave was some silver and gold threads, and not the delicate ones that one would see in department store clothing. Removing the piece from the box, you saw that it was a long scarf which shimmered as it moved. It was absolutely beautiful.

Setting it in your lap, you turned to him and smiled widely and genuinely. "Thank you so much. I love it."

He finally caught your gaze again with his ice blue one and smirked. "Something to help you hide a bit more on those outings. I don't need you getting trampled by your fans."

Giggling, you blushed and looked away, twisting your fingers into the soft fabric as you remembered the moment he was referencing. Mr. Agreste piped up again, "So... will you join us downstairs now?"

Frowning deeply, you thought a moment before answering. "As long as you promise no more akumas on Christmas." Standing, you folded the scarf and placed it on the bed, snatching Adrien's gift from the drawer. You looked down at your boss. "Its much too precious a time to use for that... for all of us."

He blinked a couple of moments in surprise at your boldness but then nodded meekly, standing himself and taking up the jewelry box. "Very well, you have made your point clear to me. I will promise you that."

Smiling, you had to resist taking his arm as the two of you left the room, Duusu flying back into your hair. You chatted slightly about some previous Christmases while you approached the dining room, a loud commotion coming from the area. Finally, this would be a holiday to remember and cherish.


	13. Chapter 13: If the Cards are Right

You stared into the mirror, not sure as what to make of yourself. Delicate laces danced over your curves, barely obscuring what hid underneath. Duusu hovered nearby your head, trying to smile but looking more like a grimace at this point. You sighed and threw off the shawl, wadding it into an ungraceful ball and throwing it at a chair in the corner. In doing so, the momentum almost made you trip in the shiny high heel boots that climbed up your legs, meeting at some matching garters. Growling, you turned back towards the mirror and just couldn't accept you would have to wear this in front of people.

The Kwami flew up and picked at the lace, looking it over. She cleared her little throat. "Well... it could be worse really. You could have to be trying this on to be inspected by Gabriel..."

The entire upper portion of your body turned a deep red and you laughed nervously. "Oh yeah... that would be pretty bad..." Taking a few steps back and forth, you drove the thought from your mind. "But I will be wearing this in front of him at some point... God Duusu, the fashion show! I'll practically be wearing this skimpy get-up in front of all of Paris! All of the world!" You practically tore your hair out thinking about it. Francis had been right, this was part of your job, but how could you get over these 'jitters?'

Duusu hovered nervously around you, for once unsure as what to say. She coughed, "I mean... you do look really good. I'm sure your career will get a huge boost from it. It might help you with your hobby of stage performances. The more well known you are, the more likely you are to be hired."

Finally, you flopped back into your chair and adjusted the uncomfortable lace around the black bra and panties. "Ugh, but well known as a lingerie model. I'm sure they only get certain... select roles." You rubbed your eyes at the mirror and sighed. "I guess I should only worry about that when the time comes. At least I have a chance to distract myself with singing during the show." Francis and Gabriel had told you, well, more like ordered you to audition for the lead singer for the fashion show. It was as about as odd as it sounded. With the Agreste masquerade, every fashionista around the world wanted to pull off something as glamorous and wild. Gabriel, of course, wanted to remain at the top of the game, especially in this part of the continent.

"Things will work out, you'll see." You gave the Kwami a weak smile in return before standing and getting back into your regular clothes. Today was done thankfully, that last 'outfit' left you exhausted.

Gathering everything up, you left the little changing room and dumped the pile of fabric at Francis' feet. He tutted and gathered it up. "It's still a piece of artwork mind you. You should treat it so. Besides," he snickered raising his eyebrow. "I might be gay but I can tell you that you look gooooood in it."

Punching his shoulder playfully, you shook your head and headed out the doors back towards home. Home. It was still a little bit weird to refer to your boss' house that way.

About half-way there, you let out a huge yawn and sipped at your coffee. You hated mornings, especially when you had to work during them. The afternoon was just beginning now and you already felt that you needed a solid nap to be ready for the rest of the day. At least Adrien wouldn't bothering you for attention today. He was at some game show that Nino had managed to get onto which you were incredibly happy for.

Strolling in through the front doors, you were stopped by a steel-firm grip on your arm. Startled, you turned to see Nathalie standing there with the same blank expression on her face. She pressed a finger to her lips and pulled on your arm towards the direction of her office and you followed, unsure as to what you were about to walk in on.

Gabriel was sitting in a chair in front of the monitor at the back of the room growling something down at it. Clearly he was talking to someone whom appeared on the little screen and was not happy about it. "Hilarious. Your show is pathetic. And so is your contestant. Control me? Never." He held up a remote and pressed a button, ending whatever that was.

Mr. Agreste stood and waved you over before turning towards the painting of his wife. "Come, we have business to take care of."

You jolted and looked around nervously. "Wait a second... what was that? Also, I just got home. I need to put up my stuff and..."

Gabriel glowered over his shoulder at you and snarled, "Are you questioning me?!"

Nathalie leaped forward and grabbed your bag from your shoulder. "I will take care of it, don't worry. Just do as he says."

With a sigh, you let her have it and then crossed the room over to him. He reached forward and pressed some hidden buttons upon the canvas before grabbing you and pulling you to him for the descent. Not once had you ever made this easy for him. You refused to give him the satisfaction of having to stand so close on your own. Once he had even started going to the office from the lair while leaving you behind on accident. It was the small victories that kept you going.

He cleared his throat behind you, feeling the vibration of it in your back. "That was the idiotic game show that Paris is so fond of. I accepted an invitation to the show... but it was really just an opportunity to set this up. I can already feel the disappointment of my abrupt departure."

You rolled your eyes. "You're so mean."

That actually made him laugh a little bit. It sounded very odd. "Isn't that the point?"

Finally the platform rose to join the floor of the lair and Gabriel stepped forward to transform. "Dark wings, rise!"

Reluctantly, you followed suit. "Duusu, it's time to fan out!"

Settling into a crouch nearer the window, you heard Hawk Moth begin his ramblings. "Yes. Humiliation and anger. The perfect elements for transforming a loser into a winner."

Your eyebrows rose and your turned to look at him. "Sir, the person that you left out to dry? They will be gunning for you, is that such a good idea?"

He glared at you for a moment but smiled, closing his eyes and cupping his hands around one of the many butterflies. "I am in control. Everything will be fine. I expect for you to do your part in this as well."

Grimacing, you just nodded, watching the dark creature flutter from the equally dank room. With a familiar flick of the fan, you followed, leaving your boss behind. The little demon flew towards the TV station, the very same place where you had fought your first battle against Chat and Ladybug. Ah great, speaking of, Adrien was in the building.

The Akuma got much more of a head start, and by the time you found a way to sneak into the building, you came into a room full of utter chaos. The host was strutting around the stage making duck noises and the Gorilla was acting well... like a gorilla. You turned and saw a very purple and green man smirking at you, a card poised between his middle and pointer finger.

"Ah, sweet graceful peacock whom doesn't need my card. Come! Help me form my army and we shall take down Gabriel Agreste!" You flinched and looked around, giving him a slight nod. Oh boy. Well you couldn't very well let this villain get what he wants.

You followed him up onto the stage in front of the camera and stood sullenly behind as he announced his plans, which to be honest didn't seem very smart. Hawk Moth responded in your heads with a chuckle, "It's risky. But it's giving me an idea. Good luck, Simon Says." Now what on earth was he planning? This was all stressing you out to no end.

A flash of black from the doorway, and you saw Chat Noir getting ready to strike. You pointed him out and it didn't take long for Simon Says to send the Gorilla in his direction. The poor lad didn't stand a chance as he got slammed out into the hallway. Taking the opportunity, the two of you fled out into the rest of the building, hypnotizing a few people along the way to help search for Gabriel before reaching the streets.

Thinking of an excuse you grimaced and turned to Simon. "I'm going to go scout ahead. Maybe I can find him quicker than the drones."

He scowled at you but nodded. "Don't take too long, peacock."

Running ahead, you passed all of the hypnotized people as they stumbled like zombies through the streets. After all, you definitely knew where to head a lot faster than they did. You reached the house in a matter of a couple minutes and scouted around for somewhere to enter from. Ah yes! Adrien's window. He always left it unlocked for when he had to do superhero work at a moment's notice.

You stopped and looked in, making sure no one was around. Crap... Nino hovered around the TV looking confused as what to do. You couldn't let him spot you. The moment he turned to look at Adrien's computer screen, you wrenched the window open and slunk behind the television, as silent as a shadow. The boy heard the noise and headed to the window in confusion, but you were already gone, going soundlessly through the door and down the hallway. Gabriel would probably be in his office, de-transformed as he entertained the unexpected superhero guests. They would already be here no doubt, protecting the man they knew was in trouble. Especially since he was the father of one of them.

The sounds of pounding feet approached and you slipped into Gabriel's main office, hiding behind the door while the hero passed. Ducking your head out to make sure they were gone, you saw Ladybug heading towards Adrien's bedroom, vanishing up the stairs. With a sigh, you hovered around the room where Gabriel was, all too aware of the sounds of invading people coming from outside.

The deep voice of Hawk Moth blared forth in your mind. "I don't think that's a good idea, Simon Says."

You could hear the villain's response. "Gabriel is here!"

"Yes, but don't forget our deal. I feel Ladybug and Cat Noir nearby. Once you've got them in front of you, you'll be able to honor our agreement. Just take their jewels, the Miraculouses." He paused. "Le Plume, where have you gone?"

You growled, wondering if he would hear you so far from Simon. "I'm already inside, in position."

There was a pause and then, "Good."

A metal panel on the door to the room opened and you slipped inside, watching as it hurriedly closed behind you. Gabriel appeared from the floor by the portrait, having transformed back. You tilted your head at him, a deep frown on your face. "They are coming for you, breaking down everything. What should I do?"

Mr. Agreste looked down for a moment, worry on his brow. "Only if they manage to get to me, then protect me. I can't fight as Hawk Moth here as you know." He locked his eyes with yours. "Now hurry and hide. Nathalie will be back at any moment and the superheroes with her."

Giving him a nod of agreement you flew across the room and ducked behind a mannequin just as the metal door flew open and Nathalie emerged with Nino next to her. "Where's my son?"

The DJ spoke up, "He'll be here. He's with Ladybug."

It wasn't long before the banging against the door became louder and louder as more and more drones fought their way to get into the room for Simon Says. Nathalie pressed herself against it to try and keep it closed while Nino fled behind her desk, cowering with his face in his hands. It became too much and the door fell, Nathalie running to hide as well, pressing Nino's head down so that he would not be able to watch what unfolded.

With a slight grunt you went out into the room, betraying the akuma victim to protect your boss. Flipping your fan in expert precision, you knocked the hypnotized civilians back, one by one, hoard by hoard to keep them away.

Eventually, Simon himself entered the room with a look of fury on his face. You yelled and flung yourself at him, bringing your fan up to hook it on his chin. He dipped under it and brought his hand forward, pressing it into your side. Too fast for you to react, he grinned and spoke. "Simon Says you will do what I tell you to do, right peacock?"

A wave of power swept over you and suddenly you were left there, clipping your fan back into your belt and standing with a vacant expression on your face. You heard Gabriel yell out and grunt, the man finally getting restrained. Your lip twitching, you answered your new master, "Yes, sir."

"Haha, good, now help restrain Gabriel Agreste for me, hmm? Since you took out several of my army."

You nodded and sluggishly moved across the room. Not even looking Mr. Agreste in the face, you pushed aside one of the drones and latched onto his arm, your grip a lot more vice-like than you could have imagined. The world was so weird now and you didn't like it. You could grasp at everything that was happening, but you could not control what you were doing. Gabriel yelled at you to 'snap out of it' but it did no good. You were under the control of his own akuma. Cruel irony.

The little group of people restraining the very angry fashion designer made their way out of the house and down the road towards the TV station. Despite the fact that Simon could have told Gabriel to do something to make the process faster, he did not, clearly wanting to show the world that moment. That was precisely what he did.

"Simon says... you are a butterfly!" The card hit Mr. Agreste in the chest and he started flapping his arms as the drones, and yourself, let him go to runn this way and that across the stage like a small child. It was amusing, and once again ironic, but you could not even manage a smile from the control over you and the gravity of this situation. You had tried to warn him this was a bad idea from the start. Maybe he would listen to you in the future, if there was one.

The doors banged open, and for the first time your heart fluttered in relief at the sight of the two heroes. In this moment, the two of you really needed them. The akumatized man laughed at their defensive stance, "Ladybug, Cat Noir, you can save him by giving me your Miraculouses. Do the right thing..."

Ladybug smiled right back at him, "In your dreams. Lucky Charm!"

As she activated her power, Chat ran towards the stage, intent on distracting the villain. "Simon Says attack the heroes and gain their miraculouses!"

Something hit your back and you jolted forwards, running towards the approaching boy. He raised his staff as you raised your fan, deflecting the attack. Spinning around you kicked him in his stomach, sending him half-way back to where he had been. You yelled, "Wind storm!" and swept the fan downwards, casting the two high into the air. Leaping into the storm, you caught hold of Ladybug and threw her at Simon.

Chat squirmed trying to get back towards the ground, but you got to him first, wrenching his hand back and grabbing hold of his wrist. Your fingers tightened around the ring on his finger and pulled, the little piece of metal slipping... slipping. He cried out a desperate, "No, no!" and attempted to knock you away. A spare fist hit you in the face and his foot made contact with your shin, kicking you away just as the wind died down.

Ladybug fought with Simon Says a few feet away just as he launched a card at her, making her yo-yo fall to the floor, motionless. He yelled out, throwing several cards into the air, "All that is important is what Simon says! Simon says remove your Miraculous and give it to me!"

Chat and Ladybug dodged them as you barely managed to not get hit either. In that moment, it would have been the end of your full charade if you did. Failing once again, the man growled, "Simon says... take off little airplane!" and threw this card at Gabriel. It went into his back and he paused, sticking out his arms and making vrooming noises as he left the room. This was not good at all. He could die if he managed to make it.

The two heroes rushed Simon, catching him by surprise as Ladybug pulled a spare yo-yo on him and knocked the cards from his hands. You went to grab Ladybug in a last desperate attempt, but Chat had already yelled out "Cataclysm!" and destroyed the deck with a single motion. Pausing, you blinked a couple times in confusion as the girl went to throw her charm into the air and restore the world to what it had been. The feeling of power and control over you melted away and you looked down at your hands, flexing them reassuringly.

With a gasp of realization, you ran from the room towards the roof. Please let the heroes not have been too late! You didn't want to imagine your boss having flung himself from the building only to land on the pavement below. As cruel as he was, he had taken you in and helped you here and there. You didn't wish his death.

Slamming the door open, you saw Mr. Agreste standing near the edge, staring at horror towards the sudden descent. Slumping against the wall, you panted to catch your breath from the sudden adrenaline. "Oh thank goodness, you're alright." Damn, you said that out loud.

His face whipped over towards yours and you locked eyes for the second time that day, a smile spreading on his face. He was just as relieved to be alive. The heroes had almost not made it in time. Walking towards him you were surprised that he grasped your hand firmly, trying to ground himself back in reality. Honestly having your own control over yourself without being able to do anything about it must have been more terrifying for him

Shaking his head, he gave your hand a squeeze. "Yes I'm alright. I should have listened to you before..." He hesitated as there was a beeping from the back of your head, "Now you should go back to the house. The other two will doubtlessly be here shortly."

You stared in shock a moment but then set your mouth in a firm line, nodding. "Of course, sir." Releasing your hand from his, you went towards the roof top edge and glanced back at him one more time before taking off. "I really am glad you are okay."

You didn't see his reaction as you left, just barely hearing the door to the roof open for a second time while the heroes came to check on Gabriel. Today had really been too close and you hoped it would never happen again. In the meantime though, you would need to turn your focus back to getting over these other jitters that continued to plague your focus on your job.


	14. Chapter 14: Too Much to Handle

The next couple of months passed almost too quickly despite what you had to go through. Francis took the initiative to help coax you into getting more used to showing off your body around more and more people. You started with some of the other staff in the building that you weren't normally undressed around, and then moved on to some outsiders that typically only made deliveries to the building. It was incredibly nerve-wracking, but it did help. As you went to more and more rehearsals for the upcoming show, you got even more comfortable in the undergarments and started to think of them as just a fancier outfit rather than sexual pieces. Adalene was a natural at showing off the lingerie and basked in her time to shine, throwing you some tips here and there as to appear more 'enticing' as she put it.

On top of having to continue practicing the songs for the university play, you now had to start rehearsing songs for the fashion show as well. You had tried out with several other singers put forward by other designers from around the world. There were surprisingly few due to the late notice of this change in show theme. Not many fashion companies just managed to have models that could sing already employed. The ones that did show up gave you a run for your money, but somehow you still managed to end up on top. A few others were still cast as backup vocals, notably a caramel skinned beauty with a chocolate perm named Nixie and a pale platinum blonde called Wanda. One was British and the other Swedish but they were both incredibly supportive and kind to you.

Gabriel had given you a clap on the shoulder for winning the competition for his company, but other than that you hadn't seen him around the house much. You had also been surprised that Hawk Moth didn't make another appearance either. Maybe he was still shocked about almost losing his life last time. Or maybe he was just too focused on getting the new line fully complete before the show. Either way, you were just glad that you didn't have to go fighting your friends for the time being, no matter the cause.

The time to rehearse for the fashion show was rather brief in comparison to most performances, granted they expected you to just know your outfits, what order to wear them in, who you were following, and what poses to strike. However, there was now the added-on stress for some of you to know your song lyrics, dance moves, and places to be on the stage. The people in charge had vastly underestimated how long it would take to perfect such a show. With your years of experience in numerous drama departments, you were able to get down everything somewhat quickly and start helping out the other girls to learn their parts in the performance. The guy providing a lot of the instrumentals, background music, and stage effect also worked with everyone, although proved to be a bit difficult to reason with, some douchebag calling himself XY or whatever. You just tried to ignore him as much as you could outside of practice.

You woke the day of the big show just staring at the ceiling with wide eyes, a frozen feeling creeping across your body. Would you really be able to control this stress and fear when it came time to actually perform? This was the first time you were going to be putting on such a large show to the whole world via live broadcast. Not to mention you would also be revealing most of your body to the eyes of everyone as well. Closing your eyelids again, you took several deep breaths. You could do this. Francis and Adalene had already helped so much and you had to do this for your Maman, for Gabriel... and for yourself.

Feeling a rush of renewed enthusiasm, you jumped out of bed and started your long process of getting ready, slipping out around the start of the afternoon to head over to the company building where everyone would be getting packed up to move to the show location. Francis, Sadie, Veronica, and Julie were all bustling around the building, almost in a low panic while they made sure everything needed made it into the trucks. A couple of the other models hung out there to drive in with everyone else, but Adalene and a few others were getting a separate ride to the location by their elusive dates. Adrien wouldn't be attending the event tonight. He complained but considering the content of this particular show, you had actually sided with Gabriel on this one.

The trucks of the Agreste company eventually pulled around back of the building near the Eiffel Tower where you had been rehearsing for weeks. There were several areas made available where the equipment could be unloaded and brought to the companies' respective preparation rooms. The limos, naturally, pulled around to the front of the event and let out the models to walk down the red carpet that had been pulled up. There were so many beauties, men and women, walking slowly towards the building as they stopped to talk to the crowds of people with cameras and questions. You made your way amongst them, only stopping for a couple of groups despite the constant cries of, "Ms.! Over here please!"

A few of the people yelled out anxiously as a solid weight pressed to your side and you felt an arm snake through yours. Gasping and looking up, you spotted Mr. Agreste at your side, staring indignantly at the reporters. He was, once again, in a very smart tuxedo for this event, a purple tie on his breast. Your face reddened and you glanced away, resting your hand politely near his elbow. He pulled at you and lead you to the doors more quickly, intent on ignoring the cheering crowds. Leaning in for just a moment he whispered to you, "My apologies for being late. Something came up."

You hesitated to respond, but decided to do so. "I would have waited had I known you intended to walk with me."

He adjusted his tie and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Nathalie tell you?"

"No... maybe you should try and give me the news yourself more often than dumping it all on her."

Gabriel didn't respond but you knew the poor secretary was still in for a scolding from him later.

The two of you finally made it through the front doors of the event area and followed the groups of celebrities towards the backstage area. Mr. Agreste left you at its entrance and went to go find his seat in the front row while you made your way to find Francis. You walked with purpose, knowing what you were supposed to do and ignoring everything else. Eventually, you did find the changing and prep area for the Agreste company in the back, past multitudes of other areas for the other companies. It was structured chaos back here, but everyone was accustomed to it.

Francis snatched you and immediately started dolling you up and making sure you knew where the line of your outfits was so you could change quickly. You had less time than the others due to the fact you also had to perform and sing along with the show. Speaking of, you heard the initial techno music begin outside, doubtlessly that XY gearing up for the start of the entertainment.

Adeline was already in her first number, a cute little two-piece with lots of lace and orange tones. Gabriel always tended to assign her to the lighter colors. As you were discovering, you were for the darker ones. Francis got you into your first 'outfit', the one you remember balling up in the dressing room only a few months before. Dark laced bra and panties, you were just thankful they weren't a thong. A transparent silk gown to match was placed over them and a garter placed upon your left thigh. To finish it up, over-the-knee black high-heeled boots were put on with clips rising up to the underwear. You appeared fierce and dangerous, nothing of what you were really feeling on the inside.

The music started out of the silence and many hands pushed you forwards towards where the doors to the stage should be. On the way you got fixed with the appropriate headpiece to sing into and you felt everything begin to blur together. This was for your future. Just think of this performance as any other one you had done for your classes, your oncoming career. Glancing out of the corner of your eye, you saw Nixie and Wanda in place behind you, giving you a massive thumbs up and a clap on the back. With a new spark of inspiration, you turn back and open the doors, beginning your strut towards the end of the catwalk. The lyrics of the pop song came to you as easily as if you were on the theater stage, the many eyes of the scrutinizing audience nothing more than a captivated mass of people wanting to enjoy a good show.

You almost forgot that all you wore was the skimpy designer undergarments as your body began to move in dance with the end of the stage approaching. Striking a pose, having hit your mark right on que, you glanced over the first few rows, a singular pair of ice-blue eyes catching your gaze. Gabriel sat right in the front row, center seat, inspecting the show with a scrutinizing air.

The first song ended, much to your relief. Your voice would have begun to falter, seeing what you did. He was sitting, right where you were meant to interact with one of the members of the audience later on during the show. Was this planned this way? You felt embarrassment and anger that such a thing would be set up. The instrumentals for the next song started, and you turned around heading back to the changing rooms to get changed before your vocals started. While Francis and the girls wrestled you into your next number, more of a bathing suit type black and red outfit, you cleared your mind, intent on just finishing the show and ignoring the unfortunate circumstance that had just reared its head.

It was a couple more songs and changes before you were finally stepping off the stage with several of the other models. The music had taken a slower more seductive tone, although was still upbeat and easy to dance to. The lyrics flowed off your tongue from the months of practice. You strolled past the front row, stepping past Gabriel further onto the red carpet that went up the stairs of the theater. Touching a few shoulders of some of the audience members on the end of the row, you looked over them with a flirtatious smirk, completely owning your body in its thin, stringy two piece. Once again, its base color was black, but the edges were laced with a baby pink, complimenting your skin beautifully.

Clearing your mind and letting yourself get absorbed in the moment, you approached the front row, on your way back to getting back on the stage, however you had one last stop to make for the performance. Hopefully, your boss would understand it was just for this show, a professional courtesy. One of the backup vocals became louder and Nixie went by you rather closely, just brushing your arm in a comforting motion as she went towards her own target. You took a deep breath as quietly as you could before continuing with a renewed vigor. Passing by him once again, your hand lightly touched his forearm as the music briefly paused and it was just your voice reverberating throughout the auditorium. Stepping in front of him and looking down, you saw him staring back up at you completely expressionless. Fortunately, it seemed as if he were expecting this, already accepting that this was a part of the show and honestly, it made you feel so much better.

With a surge of courage, you sat in his lap and put a hand on his cheek, running your fingers down to his chin in a coy manner. Gabriel's expression didn't falter and your singing didn't either even as you looked him directly in the eyes. Finally, you were able to break the contact and turn away, heading back onto the stage as the music flared up again. You felt a wave of relief settling over you now that the awkward moment was over, and you were so glad that there wasn't a similar move again in the show. Nevertheless, you managed to avoid eye contact with him for the rest of the performance.

All of the other songs and dances went perfectly, the girls hit every mark just as planned except for a couple of stumbles from a few of the less experienced models. Your singing and dancing became smoother as the show continued, finally feeling more comfortable with your body and skin as people cheered and called out your name. By the last song, even your expressions became sexually charged, your final pose as if you were groping yourself, a hand between your thighs and the other between your breasts.

Heading back to the company changing area, Nixie, Wanda, Adalene and then Francis were all congratulating you for stealing the night's show and progressing so far out of you shell. You were all blushes and 'thank yous' while you tried to get back into the outfit you arrived in, a gorgeous form-fitting white dress with a short skirt with white weaved sandals traveling up to your knees and a matching feather boa around your neck. Needless to say, this last addition to the outfit was where you hid the brooch with Duusuu inside of it.

You had to head back to the back doors with the other models while the make-up artists and assistants stayed behind for their own party. You were headed to the bigger, better after party that was hosted by the venue. Nixie split off with Wanda to find some of the other people from their respective companies and many of the other models started meeting up with their dates or managers. It was customary for all of the main designers and models to attend the after party for at least a little while and answer interview questions and mingle with the other attending companies.

Looking around for a little while, you expected Gabriel to have just headed home, but right as you turned around head back inside to ask Francis something, you bumped into someone tall. "Ow…" Taking a step back you look up, rubbing your nose, and see Gabriel towering over you with an eyebrow raised.

"Where do you think you're going? Now that I am actually at one of these… garish shows, I'm expected to answer some questions, as are you." He took your arm and started heading after the crowd going towards one of the side rooms of the auditorium.

Blinking in surprise, you struggled to keep up with his long-legged pace for a moment before falling in with him. "I thought you might have gone home… I mean, back to the house."

He glances at you for a moment. "Admittedly, I wanted to, but I know the security would have insisted I go here…" Gabriel pauses. "And you're free to call the house your home. You do live there now, with your mother as well."

Blushing, you give his arm a little squeeze, not believing much of what he was saying to you. "Thank you… for your words and, not just leaving me here."

Mr. Agreste frowns and looks ahead, ignoring you as the two of you stepped through the doorway into a room that was at least half the size of the entire auditorium. The lights were dimmed as a separate DJ in the back of the room started testing some music selections for the night. One side of the room had several tables and chairs, some with food and drink on them. The other side had a full bar, complete with stools and several bartenders. Near the entrance doors stood several reporters with microphones, notepads, and cameras, ready to stop people and ask their questions. Most models and company owners had already either headed to the dance floor or started talking amongst themselves.

Gabriel looked around in distaste and leaned closer to you. "I don't understand how people could enjoy this sort of thing. I just want to get through these questions and then we can go home."

You feel your face redden at the aspect of him referring to the house as both of your homes and you look away, trying to calm yourself. "Well you can go, Francis can get me later. I would rather stay here and converse with my new friends, have a little fun after the show tonight."

His face scrunches up and he scowls at you. "Absolutely not, bad things can happen at these parties and I don't need you getting injured again. It was bad enough not having the help those other times when you almost died." Mr. Agreste squeezes your arm roughly. "Not to mention the party at the house, where I had to step in."

You turn back to him, your noses almost touching, but you are not bothering to get angry. "Well, is that Sebastian here tonight? I don't think so. These models and managers are such a tight-knit community, everyone knows each other. I'm also not about to let what happened that night happen again." You glance towards the crowd. "Do what you will, but I will transform if I am in danger."

Gabriel is about to say something but stops as the reporters surge forward and start yelling questions at the two of you. He sighs and starts to pick and choose questions to answer as you try to separately answer as many as you could, appeasing your fans. Many of the questions were about how the show went, how you felt about the new line, how you managed to get so comfortable with the underwear, etc. After a couple of minutes of this, security closed in and began to clear out the reporters so everyone could relax, the start of the official after-party.

The lights dimmed further and music began to blare through the room as more of the people ran out to the dancefloor. A few of the others looked like they wanted to approach you, but saw Mr. Agreste and changed their minds. You looked back to him, having stepped a bit away when the reporters rushed in. He was already looking back at you, almost a beseeching look on his face. You were surprised but unwavering, staring him down even as he stepped back over to you, stopping a couple inches away.

"Fine, I see that you are not going to leave, and there is no one here to look out for you. I will stay, and you can stay." Gabriel rolls his eyes and sighs before turning towards the bar as you break into a big grin. You won this one by a landslide.

You stepped quickly out to the dance floor, leaving your handbag and boa with the other checked in items at the security table. Nixie found you quickly, dragging you up onto the small stage with the DJ to dance there, your performance from the night earning you a few moments in the spotlight of popularity. The music providers wanted you to sing for the guests, and you complied, taking a headset and continuing the dance around the room, interacting with more of the people. When the normal music flared up again, you were back out on the floor, accepting drinks being brought to you without a thought, Nixie and then Adalene right at your side, encouraging you and dancing right along with the music, keeping undesirable men away but flirting with and drawing in the cute ones.

At some point, you found yourself dancing on a table, many guys clustering around the edges to try and convince you to go with them or get a glance up your skirt. One of them crawled up and knocked you over, trying to crawl over you in jest. Growling angrily, you managed to get your feet under his stomach and kick him off back into the crowd with a crash. You stood up and flipped them off, all too aware of Gabriel now standing at the bar, having been ready to run over to you despite several empty shot glasses lined up in front of him. A few of the assaulter's buddies hurried him off, cursing at him for being an idiot.

Nixie coaxed you off the table, herself being a bit wobbly from all the mixed cocktails being handed around the group. You managed to get off without hurting yourself, settling right back into the dancing despite feeling the alcohol hit you even harder. The world swam, but it made you happy, seeing all the strobing lights and hearing the bass thump through your head.

A few guys started closing in towards you, but you didn't care at this point, wanting to find someone to dance with. They started veering off though and got nabbed up by the other girls, much to your disappointment, before you felt a solid presence pressing itself against your back. Whomever they were, they were much taller than you and very warm, wrapping an arm around your waist and pressing a hand lightly to your throat, preventing you from looking up. Smiling giddily, you fell right back against them, reaching up and twining your fingers into their soft, short hair. At that point you probably could have seen who they were and still not recognize them or even care whom they were. They started dancing with you, rubbing up against you affectionately and sexually, their hips grinding against your rear in time with the music. Warm breath kissed the top of your head and you moaned, closing your eyes as everything began to fade out.

The next thing you remember, you were out by Mr. Agreste's limo, throwing up into some bushes outside of the auditorium building. The acid burned at your throat and you coughed in pain, all too aware of a hand on your back. The limo driver gave you a pat as you looked up, Gabriel standing in front of you. His cheeks were a light pink, probably from the amount he had ended up drinking at the bar, and he looked at you in great disapproval. "I had to get you out of there, you were becoming sexually aggressive and you passed out. Anyone could have gotten their hands on you." He held up your boa and bag to show that he had them before grabbing your arm and helping you into the car. Your sight still swirled around and you felt nauseous again but managed to keep from vomiting more. Instead, you managed to feel the beginnings of another black-out.

You woke up with the world upside down. A pair of strong arms supported your back and you slowly realized you were being carried. Glancing up, you saw your hair and boa dragging on the floor. The person carrying you grunted with effort and you saw that you were starting to be taken up the stairs of the mansion. You were back home.

There was a cry out and you heard hurried footsteps coming towards the two of you. Nathalie's voice piped up, "Oh sir, no, please let me take her upstairs. Don't overexert yourself."

The man carrying you stopped and turned towards Nathalie, you closed your eyes slightly to appear to be still passed out. "No Nathalie its alright. I can do this alright on my own. I am headed this way anyways, I will be retiring to bed myself right after." You swore your heart beat a bit faster. It was Gabriel himself carrying you.

She makes a tutting noise and steps closer anyways. "Sir, you've been drinking. Please, I don't think either of us want you to drop her."

He makes a growling sound, the vibration of it in your side. "I can carry her fine. You should be more worried why you didn't tell her I was to escort her like I asked." Nathalie didn't say another word but you heard her starting to walk away and you almost felt a little bad, this scolding having technically been your fault. Gabriel started walking up the stairs again and you began blushing, still feigning being unconscious for a reason you couldn't think of.

He made it off of the stairs, heading towards your room as you could tell by the changing of the tile patterns underneath of you. Struggling for a moment, he managed to get your door open with his elbow without dropping you and he made his way over to your bed. Carefully, he lowered you towards the mattress, his muscles straining now at this final moment. Unfortunately, he stumbled, letting you slightly fall the rest of the way onto the mattress as he lurched forward. You groaned at the disturbance and leaned upwards, wrapping your arms around his shoulders to keep from sliding off the bed.

Blinking blearily at him, you noticed with a start that when he fell, the side of his head had gone against your breasts. He moved his head with a groan himself and turned to look at your face, his own very noticeably pink from the amount he had been drinking. You blushed heavily but didn't break eye contact with him, even as he leaned towards you, his body pushing you more onto the bed. His mouth opened, his hot breath tainted with the smell of alcohol washed over your lips for a few moments before he closed it.

Gabriel leaned his forehead against yours, closing his eyes. "I am going to leave before anything happens, we regret, and I pray we both forget about this by the morning." Before you could say a word, he pulled back from you and kicked a trash can closer to your bed. He fled the room, closing the door harshly and leaving you in darkness.


	15. Chapter 15: Emotional Baggage

The next few days continued in the same way the last time you had an awkward parting with Gabriel in the middle of the night. He avoided you like the plague, there weren't even any akuma victims, much to your surprise and delight. Your rehearsing for the play was going much more smoothly and you were able to practice your violin in your room without interruption. You were becoming masterful at the notes, the expertise music pouring from the open door to lead many around the house to stop and listen for a little, including both the Gorilla and Nathalie. However, Mr. Agreste was still locked away up in his office, and you didn't think much about him.

Adrien was starting to have a few extra problems at the moment, and he kept coming to you in order to vent them. His increasing anxiety at being trapped away, unable to see his friends, was making him more and more irritable. He never snapped at anyone, but it was obvious that he was just depressed and restless. Apparently, he had missed out on some movie outings, local parties, and even music rehearsals that his friends were having. Gabriel was being extra careful now for some reason, and honestly it just made you think about what he was planning.

Sadly, you didn't really have any advice for Adrien. You said you would try and talk to him, but you weren't seeing your boss around the mansion whatsoever, not even in fleeting. It wasn't until nearly a week and a half after the show that you heard yelling out in the hallway. Voices were raised in agitation, one young and one old. It took you by surprise, as there was never really any excitement that went on in this house, except when you were being summoned by Hawkmoth.

Peeking your head around the doorframe, you finally saw Gabriel Agreste standing out on the landing in front of the painting, he was waving his arms at someone, his own voice raised. If he was frightening when he was calm, this was much worse. In front of him was Adrien, refusing to back down, his face pure anger. It was shocking to see, as you had only ever seen him look at you that way when he was Chat. But now he was using that same face towards his own father. Oh no… what had happened?

Worried that Adrien might have found out something, you stepped into the hall, your slippered feet making no sound against the tile. They didn't hear or see you approach as you went to listen in on the argument.

You heard the older man speak first, "No, Adrien, I have told you this time and time again. Any event that lasts past 7 you are not allowed to attend. That is too late at night, and anything can happen. Things not even your bodyguard would be able to protect you from. We are done with this discussion."

"But father, this isn't any event we are talking about, this is the yearly school dance, the one that is available for everyone to go to. This would give me a chance to talk to some more people and maybe even gain some new friends. I'm lucky if I get to spend any time with them outside of school maybe once a week. I don't want to lose them." He stepped forward defiantly.

"Don't be ridiculous, missing one dance isn't going to make you lose friends."

"You say that now, but the more you keep me stuck in here, unable to make my own decisions, I just might one day."

"Keep talking back to me, Adrien, and I will be sure to keep you in here and away from them. Clearly, they are being a bad influence on you, making you talk back to me in this way. Maybe you shouldn't be friends with them."

Now you couldn't let this just slide, poor Adrien was beginning to crumble as he knew that his father's final decision wasn't within his control. You cleared your throat, the two of them turning towards you, a bit startled. "I think his friends are being a great influence on him. They are giving him the capability to speak up for himself and be brave instead of just backing down and giving up in stressful situations. I think he should be allowed to go to the dance, Gabriel. He has done nothing wrong and it is something that every kid gets to experience normally. Do you really want to take that away from him?"

Mr. Agreste stuttered for a moment, taken aback by your words. Although you had confronted him similarly before, he was just not expecting for you to defy him so openly again, especially with all that was at stake. But you were still too valuable, you were taking liberties now. His face grew dark, a bit of a snarl forming on his mouth. "You have no place to talk here, you are not a part of this family."

You stepped towards him, fists clenched and a stern scowl on your own mouth. "That is true, but Adrien is my friend. I will not let him be treated in such a way, especially by his own blood father. You are supposed to love and support him, not keep him depressed and miserable, locked away like some pet!"

His eyes widened in shock at your harsh words, but he didn't raise a hand to you. "I am keeping him safe! That should be what is most important!"

"Safe from what? Hm? The akumas?"

Gabriel closed the gap and you felt his fingers close around your forearm roughly as he started to drag you away from the area. Adrien looked shocked and tried to follow, but you shook your head desperately at him, not wanting him to end up getting in the middle of whatever this was. Rounding a corner, you were being dragged towards the closed door at the end of the hall, a room you weren't familiar with. You struggled against his grasp, but he was strong and he not only kept his grip on you, but kept you moving towards the door. Silently, you cursed yourself for only wearing slippers right now.

The door was swiftly unlocked by only the mere sound of jingling keys and then you were thrown down inside. You hit the floor of the dark room, not gently, and you groaned in pain, slowly turning and looking back at Gabriel. He was still in the doorway, framed by light. His silhouette was unnerving. "You think you are clever, talking to me in such a disrespectful way in front of my own son for the second time now. Bringing up the very thing we should not be talking about in front of him… You know very well why he should stay in here. You should be on my side in this."

"And you should know that he is capable of taking care of himself and that you control the very things that would 'hurt' him. They wouldn't hurt him."

He laughs menacingly. "You don't know what uncontrollable things can happen out there. You were even caught in the crossfire once. It's time you reflect on what you have done, and face the consequences of it. I told you what could happen if you didn't obey me…"

With that the door was slammed shut and the rattling of keys once again and the following 'click' was enough to know you were locked in. His words set you into a panic though. Rushing forward and off the floor, you tried to open the door. However, the knob just rattled uselessly, never turning. Stepping back, you tangled your fingers into your hair and breathed loudly, crying out as Duusu fearfully came from your jacket's safety. "Oh Maman, what have I done? He said that he could kill her if I betrayed him…"

Duusu flew at the door, looking at the handle. "Do you really think he would do such a thing though? For this situation? We have been talking with him for quite a while now, he has a lot of soft spots that we didn't even think could exist."

"But he is also a man of his word. Oh Duusu, I could have just doomed her by trying to stand up for poor Adrien."

She pointed to the lock. "I could open this door for us, we can try to stand up to Hawkmoth once and for all. Keep your Maman safe…"

You shook your head. "No… I don't have the power to face him. I couldn't face him. And what if I jump the gun and break out of this room only to then force his hand to kill Maman? I don't want to do that… I think we should stay in here." Sighing, you sunk to your knees, tears starting to pour from your eyes. "I hope he doesn't hurt her. Oh what have I done?"

Duusu flew down and settled into your hair comfortingly as you attempted to calm down, worrying over your Maman and Adrien and what Gabriel might be doing right now. After roughly ten minutes of this, you finally stood back up and looked around the room to see where you were, your eyes adjusting to the dim light. It was a relatively small room, much to your surprise, but it had a full bedroom's furnishments. A large four-poster bed stood against the far wall; the beams intricately carved with flowers. The sheets were a black pattern with deep red background which matched the color of the carpet in the room. The other wall had an oak dresser with golden knobs and carvings to match the bed. A singular window had large red drapes drawn across it, a door between it and the bed leading to a grand bathroom with a heated bath and open shower.

Swallowing hard, you think you knew where you were. Heading back into the bedroom, you sat on the edge of the bed. Gabriel's bed. He had locked you into his room. Crossing your legs and wringing your hands, you glanced around the place. Why had he put you in here? Now you had another thing to currently worry about on top of everything. You shouldn't have gotten involved in front of Adrien, you should have waited and confronted Gabriel alone in his office. You risked everything because of this, and now you might be paying the ultimate price.

Hours passed, the beams of light coming in from around the curtains growing dimmer. Dinner time came and went, no one coming for you. Duusu fell asleep, but your worry kept you alert, looking around the room nervously as more and more time passed. When the last of the light finally disappeared, you once again heard the tell-tale jangle of keys before the lock clicked back open. Jumping off the bed, you stood in the middle of the room, shaking a little bit in fright, but not so much that you would look weak in front of your boss.

Gabriel's silhouette was once again visible for a mere moment before he closed the door behind him, the outline of his features a bit more perceptible without the blinding hall light coming in. His face was still one of annoyance as he stayed in front of the door. He didn't speak, he didn't move.

Gasping, you took a couple of steps towards him, "Please tell me you didn't hurt my Maman…"

With your approach, he broke off from where he stood, coming at you at a brisk pace. He cut you off, placing a hand around your throat and pushing you backwards. Back, back, as your breathing became difficult at the constriction of your airways. Eventually your back hit the wall, jarring your head. Duusu hissed and started to bite at Gabriel's hand as Nooroo came out, looking worried.

"Master I…" His words were stopped as Gabriel reached under his tie quickly and removed his brooch, simultaneously reaching into your hair and ripping out the miraculous, a few strands of your hair stuck in it. He tossed them down onto the nightstand next to you as he lowered you, making sure your feet were just touching the ground.

His hand pressed a bit harder and he leaned in, that scowl still on his face as he looked in your eyes. You clawed at his hand, struggling to breathe as he came closer. Eventually, you felt something warm and soft brushing up against your lips, and you realized his face was right up to yours now. He didn't hold himself back this time, and he leaned in, his mouth pressing right up to yours. His breath washed over your cheek, and it felt comforting, the kiss and his presence starting to make your anxiousness melt away.

Finally, he pulled away, his breathing now hot and heavy on your neck. Your eyes blinked open, glancing at him, your cheeks incredibly red from the experience you just had. Trembling a bit, you sputter out a few words, "Why… why are you doing this?"

Gabriel did not answer you. Instead, his mouth began to press against your neck, not too lightly, enough to feel the dampness of his inner lips and the small pricks of his teeth catching your skin. Involuntarily, you moaned, waves of pleasure and heat cascading through your body. His hand didn't leave your throat as you heard a small thud from below you, his knee resting against the wall, sliding his leg up between yours.

It started to grind against your womanhood, the friction and closeness making you feel such an arousal that you had never experienced before. Crying out, you tried to reach out to touch his chest, but his hand tightened on your throat again. Your fingers clamped back to his, just so you could get enough air. His free hand found your waist, however, and began to travel up under your shirt, long fingers caressing the skin of your stomach and toying with your waistband.

His mouth traveled back up as his leg began to move faster against you. You felt embarrassed and hot as you panted in pleasure, the feeling between your legs something indescribable. "M… m… mr… hah, Gabriel…" He growled a little as you said his name, and his hand traveled all the way up your front, slipping under the edge of your bra and clasping your breast, squeezing the nipple between a couple of fingers.

You were now yelling into his ear, kicking lightly. All you knew you wanted to do was to be able to move, be able to touch him back, but he had you pinned right where he wanted you. Apparently, you were making too much noise. His lips found yours again and pressed down, his tongue sliding easily into your mouth as you shouted out loud. With the return of his kiss, you kissed him back, desperately, needingly. Your tongue danced with his as your fingers fought with his hand against your throat.

Finally, he was dragging you back, onto your feet and away from the wall. You were being brought around to the front of the bed, before being pushed backwards onto the edge of it. Falling back, the kiss broke, trails of saliva dropping between you two. His face was no longer Gabriel's. He looked entirely like Hawkmoth, with his wide evil grin and how he now stood towering above you. His hands found the clasp your pants with expert precision and undid them, sliding them away and off of you before you could even protest. But you didn't really want to. You wanted this, all worry for you Maman being clouded away.

Your panties now were shown to him, dark grey with a black lace trim. He chuckled upon seeing them, knowing you were taking the dark colors comment to heart now. Blushing, you turned a bit away from him, but he reached down and grabbed your chin, making you look at his face as he leaned over you. Gabriel slid you towards the edge of the bed and closer to him without wavering, pressing his crotch against yours as your legs wrapped around him. Even though he still wore his pants, you could tell he was aroused as there was a definite bump you were feeling.

Gasping, you squirmed a bit, but Mr. Agreste started to thrust against you, this new friction between your legs feeling even more incredible. Were you dreaming? It certainly felt like it. If it wasn't for Gabriel's roughness, you might just not believe this was happening. His warmth and scent were fogging your mind and you reached out in desperation, uncaring that he still had that grip on your chin. Without looking away, you placed your hand on his shoulders, fingers digging into the fabric and finding a hold. As he continued to move, you moaned, eyelids half-drooping.

He finally dropped your chin, breathing a bit heavily, and moved his hands back to hold under your legs and bring them up so he had better access. This made your own arms drop and you started just gripping the sheets, arching your back as his thrusts seemed to go on and on. Finally, you couldn't seem to hold yourself back anymore and you cried out, right as a burning and pleasure overtook your lower half. Squirming, you felt a wetness between your legs. Feeling embarrassed, you looked back up to see Gabriel pulling away, a triumphant smirk on his face. The front of his own pants were now a bit damp and he laughed reaching down to rub the darkened wet spot on your own underwear. "So sensitive…" You twitched as he touched you, unable to say anything as you panted.

Once again, Mr. Agreste approached the bed, looming above you. Scooting back, he climbed up on to the bed and over you, once again keeping that startling gaze on your face. He started reaching up and removing his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt as you watched in embarrassed interest. Laying them to the side, he moved his hands to your underwear, slipping them off and over your legs swiftly. He made quick work of your own shirt and bra, watching you as you now lay completely naked on the bed covers.

Shyly, you scooted towards him and undid the button of his own pants, sliding the zipper down and pulling them down over his black boxers. He frowned and backed away, wriggling out of the tight pants and discarding the underwear. Gabriel turned back towards you, and you couldn't help but stare. It was a sight you had never seen before, not even on any other man. His member stood firm and erect, a bit of clear liquid tipping the slit on his head as it twitched slightly. He moved back towards you, forcing you back down onto the covers as he clambered over you, moving your legs apart with his own.

Mr. Agreste let out a soft sigh as he let his erection finally touch the wet folds of your labia, making you shudder at the surprising heat you felt from it on your clit. He leaned forward as he ground his hips against yours, his tip ever inching towards your entrance, and he pulled you into another kiss, this one predatory and messy as his tongue immediately went for yours. You playfully struggled against him, arms wrapping around his shoulders and fingers tangling into his hair as you began to move your own hips back.

He growled lightly and thrusted against you, his member finally penetrating you all the way to its base. Crying out in pain, you broke the kiss and yelped, gasping and panting. Somewhat in a panic, Gabriel pulled back out and looked down at you with clear concern on his face. He gritted his teeth and glanced between your legs, propping himself up on his arms to do so. Looking back to you he spoke, "Are you… is… this your first?"

You flushed fearfully and nodded, glancing away briefly as you admitted this to him, feeling even more embarrassed despite is not being anything to be ashamed of. "I… I've always been too busy with school and work to do anything else really… I've never dated or… anything else."

Mr. Agreste looked a bit uncomfortable and flustered himself as he lowered himself back down to you. "I'm so sorry, I did not know. I'll be more gentle."

Reaching up, you removed his glasses from his face and gently held one of his cheeks in your palm. Much to your surprise, he leaned into the touch, lightly kissing your hand.

More slowly this time, he inched himself back inside, moving his hips in a rhythmic pattern. The feeling of him, warm and hard, was stimulating and very welcomed. He wrapped his arms around under your shoulders and pressed his body closer, his head next to yours, heavy breath in your ear. Your arms encircled him, letting out small gasps every time he hit a certain spot within you. That similar feeling from before was coming back, but you didn't want for it to come. Not yet, you wanted to stay just like this for forever.

However, Gabriel would not allow this as he continued to rut, going deeper as he went faster. His smell, taste, touch, and heat were all too much, overpowering your attempts to last longer. You felt your walls closing in around him, attempting to push him out. He groaned and struggled to stay inside as you orgasmed, sweet liquid spilling out past your connection.

He panted, moving a couple more times before he thrusted in as deep as he could and you felt his member twitch and spasm inside of you, loosening his own seed within. The ecstasy of the moment made you drool slightly, unable to let him go. The two of you stayed like that for a few moments, just absorbed in the pleasure while you attempted to catch your breaths.

Finally, he rolled off to the side, picking up his glasses. He started to clean them. "Damn, I didn't mean to go that far, but I couldn't help myself." Gently, he put them back on his face, looking towards the window, rather than you as you started to sit up, hair in a tangled mess. "I've been so lonely, for so long now. I miss her so much and you… you just remind me of her. I didn't hurt your Maman. I couldn't, I never would have."

Your heart pounded and you nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We both have been lonely. I can see how we came to this but…" you put your other hand on your heart. "I know this won't change our overall relationship, and goals. I don't want to completely dismiss this moment, I…" your face flushed deep red. "I know you still love your wife, Gabriel, but this meant something to me. I've been feeling rather odd around you for some time now, and I believe I know the reason why."

Mr. Agreste turned towards you; his eyes wide. He reached out and grabbed one of your hands. He looked lost for words, which was incredibly unlike him. "Naturally, I won't shun you. This moment in which I have let myself give in to weakness, it has changed things. I know I don't want to continue on just being alone. You are welcome in here; you are welcome with me."

You frowned, looking away. "Until we find your wife…."

His slight smirk vanished and he looked towards the quilt. "That… we will have to see when the time comes for that. I don't really know how I feel about everything right now; it will take time. All I know for the moment, and all I can tell you is that I do care about you, greatly, and I don't want for you to stay away as you have been."

You nodded. "I can agree to that, but there is one thing." You sighed. "Please spend more time with Adrien. Watch a movie with him, play some music together, take a walk, eat dinner. I don't know, just spend time with him. He desperately needs it, and it is painful for me to see him that way."

Gabriel nodded, closing his eyes as a look of guilt clouded his features. "Of course, that is not unreasonable. I… will need to try and make time around work… and around our searching…" He hesitated.

You put a hand on his shoulder as you reluctantly started to get up off the bed. "We will still search and we will get those miraculouses. We will win, in time. I will not falter because I am doing this for you and for Adrien. You mustn't worry about that." Daring, you gave him a small kiss on his cheek. Seeing him break and be so vulnerable, you didn't feel any fear towards him. You weren't sure if you would ever be able to again. "For now though, I need to clean up a little." Still naked, you turned from him and stepped into the bathroom over to the massive, open shower as you felt something warm start to drip down a leg.

Taking a few moments to figure out how the knob worked, you finally turned it on, hot water cascading down around you. The slight soreness that the intercourse had caused started to melt away, and you closed your eyes, just basking in that, feeling a bit ecstatic.

Something loomed up behind you and put a hand on your forehead, pushing you back against them. The gesture was incredibly familiar somehow and you started, stepping away from them and turning around. Gabriel stood there, a bit startled, and you put a hand to your temple.

"Wait…. The man who danced with me when I was drunk at the show's afterparty… the one that was grinding against me…. that was you?" Everything came flashing back, you really had paid no attention to whom you were dancing with that evening. You had not cared, or maybe you did, and you just decided to let all your true feelings come out to Gabriel on that one night. It was so embarrassing; how could you not have known?!

He smiled at first and then laughed a little, reaching up and scratching the back of his neck. "Maybe… just maybe I was actually feeling angry and protective when I saw those other men approaching you at the party. They were unsuited for you, and you were drunk." The smile vanished as suddenly as it showed up. "It wouldn't have been the first time."

The night of the masquerade came back to your mind and several switches clicked. "So what I said was correct… you were jealous." You laughed a little bit, letting yourself move back towards him. "It seems that we really were just in a dance ourselves this whole time, always passing by each other when we were supposed to touch."

He moved into the water, drips coming off of the tips of his blonde hair. "How poetic, but that does seem to have been the case." You hadn't had a chance from before to really study his body, but it was as you had assumed it would be having seen him in the tight bodysuit of Hawk Moth time and time again. He was lean, but had smooth muscle running over the length of his body. There was nothing flabby or unappealing about him. It was as if he could have been a model himself had he chosen to.

Blushing, you found where the soap lay and went over to retrieve it. Before you could pick it up however, you felt a now familiar warm heat pressing up against your back, pushing you into the wall. His breath was on the top of your ear. "Now that everything is out in the open, I can't seem to hold myself back from you now." The smooth texture of his lips trailed over the cartilage to the side of your neck. "I just want to be able to touch you… and to be touched. I don't want that feeling to go away."

You reached up and put an arm around his neck, pulling him closer. "I'm not going anywhere; I will be here as long as you need me." You didn't want to think about the future right now, blocking it out, you closed your eyes and focused on the sensation of his hands running up and down your sides. Soon, you felt the tip of his erection once again sliding into you. He was ready again so soon? Impressed from what you had heard, you moaned as Gabriel began to pump in and out of you again, a lot more smoothly this time with the help of the water.

His teeth gritted as he moved, holding one of your legs up to grant him easier access. It was more work to keep going, as sensitive as he must have been from already reaching climax. However, you were having a much better time, having a body built for multiple orgasms. That was what you did just now, Mr. Agreste struggling to stay fully inside of you. With a moan in time with your own, Gabriel finally came again, his member throbbing rhythmically inside of you until he pulled out, a bit of white trailing down your leg from where he had just been.

With a chuckle, he pulled away and smacked your rear, the resounding clap echoing around the shower. Grabbing the soap, he walked back over to the stream of water. "It has been so long; I wasn't too sure if I even still had it in me."

You walked up to him, snatching the soap away from him playfully as he gave you a glare. "You may have lost, M…. Gabriel, but you are still you." It felt so strange, referring to him by his first name like this. "Time can't change the essence of who you are."

He looked down at one hand sadly. "I'm not too sure how true that is…"

Gently taking that hand, you put the soap back into it and curled his fingers around them, giving them a light kiss. "Well whatever you believe, you are a good man, fighting for what is right, and I stand by you and I…. care about you." Blushing, you lathered up your hair and continued to wash off while Gabriel started to do the same. A day ago, you wouldn't have even dreamed of such a thing happening, you would have thought you had gone crazy. Maybe you have.

Shaking your head, you finally walked out of the shower, drying yourself off with one of the plushest towels you had ever laid hands on. It was something so much fancier than what you had in your bathroom; the difference was noticeable. Mr. Agreste soon followed and laid back in the bed, a towel around his shoulders, you gathered up your clothes and he raised an eyebrow at you, looking up from the book he was now holding. It was the one he had borrowed about the history of fashion.

He cleared his throat, "Will you be staying… tonight? I did give the invitation… My room is now yours."

You hesitated; would it really be such a good idea. However, you did promise him. How much harm could this really be. Finally, you cracked a smile and put the clothes neatly on a chair along with his before crawling into bed with him and curling up next to him, an arm over his stomach. Gingerly, he put an arm around your shoulders, holding you close. "I'll stay as long as you want me. I'm not hiding away from you anymore. I hope you do the same for me…"

He frowned, eyes calculating. "It's not like I have anything more to hide from you. You are always welcome in my office, in my lair… just find me. It will be easier for you…" Gabriel sighed. "And a promise is a promise, I will also find the time for Adrien. I will let him go to that dance, if he is protected."

You settled in against him, feeling drowsy at how comfortable everything was. "If it makes you feel better, I can watch over the dance, make sure nothing unwarranted attacks. Though you just have to make sure to not send out any akumas that night."

He chuckled. "Very well, you make a fair point. I accept your offer. I do trust you to look after him. You've always tried your hardest for me, and I have noticed."

The two of you went silent and soon you were passed out against him, butterflies in your stomach. The day had taken such a turn, but it was one that you could definitely remember. You were happy, completed, and whatever the future threw at you, at least you could have these moments.


End file.
